Lunar Eclipse
by LM Simpson
Summary: Sequel to Dark Side of the Moon. Teddy was right. Completed
1. Where are they Now?

**Title: **Lunar Eclipse

**Author: **LM Simpson (Kady the Red Panda)

**Pairing(s): **TerrencexZob, TeddyxZick, ZickxElena

**Rating: **M

**Warning(s): **Slash, language, sexual and suggestive content, infidelity

**Disclaimer: **If I owned MA, it would probably suck ass. And also have official (rather than implied) canon TeddyxZick. Which would be totally kick ass.

**Other tidbits: **After writing and uploading "Identity Crisis," I decided to write a real, more extensive sequel to "Dark Side of the Moon (just like how "Dark Side of the Moon" was an extension of my drabble "The Creation and the Fall")." I rarely do sequels and I didn't want a repeat of "Close Encounters," so I wrote the first three chapters in advance to make sure it doesn't go on life support immediately. Also, I wrote this chapter in a pretty angry mood, so… go figure.

Keep in mind my flame policy is still in effect; for more information, please see the end of my profile.

Well, I guess that's all... Enjoy!

**Phase One: Zick beside Himself**

**Chapter One: Where are they Now?**

1111

Four years of this. Could he take another two years of this?

_Probably not, _sixteen-year-old Zick thought. One_ year, let alone _four_, sucked._

When his father first returned, he believed it was the start of a new, lively, happy life: his mom, his dad, and he—just like a normal nuclear family with a twist.

Like that would happen now! His dad ensured it! So here he was the last four years, shifting from one house to the other, celebrating the holidays without his mom, and spending weekend nights with the radio on full blast to block out his dad's bitching and moaning from the other side of the paper-thin wall. All this because Dad's boyfriend—er, "best friend"—wanted to take it in the ass. It didn't help life got boring after Magnacat was captured.

This weekend reeked of doom and gloom. Zick predicted a match of the previous four years.

This was going to suck.

Zick rode the rust red bicycle he got the year before past the apartment complex's electrical gate with ease. (Now if Zick hadn't shot up six inches over the summer, maybe the bike ride itself wouldn't be so uncomfortable…)

Upon reaching the Bells Ferry, or Southern, building, he got off the bike, and, carrying it, entered, found apartment number 21, unlocked the door, and entered.

"Zick?" Zob called from another room.

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"Kitchen."

Zick placed his bike against the hallway wall and shuffled to the kitchen.

Zob looked tired, rummaging through the cabinets for a snack. The fan was on full blast—odd, considering it was a moderately cool September Friday.

"Don't tell me—we'll get food when Mister Thaur is here."

"One, call him Terrence; you've known him long enough. Two, yes we will. Three, we're having another guest tonight. He's going to be sleeping in your room, so be sure to fix up your room, 'kay?"

"Another guest? Well you better make sure he's not going to try to fuck me or something then."

Zob's face contorted and he pointed a finger at his son to give him a piece of mind, but decided against it. "Trust me—you'll like him," a thinly smiling Zob said.

"You better be right…"

1111

"Father knows best" rang true that night. Zick just straightened out the faded sleeping bag reserved for his overnight roommate when the doorbell rang at six-eighteen. Mister Thaur—er, "Terrence"—was there.

Mentally noting to sleep with three pillows over his head if a threesome occurred later in the evening, he exited his room. He pictured the other guest to be in his early twenties to late forties, maybe a college student that gelled his hair and got drunk every night at the bar or frat house before fucking and vomiting in a toilet through the morning.

His description was off. _Way _off.

"Teddy? Is that you?"

Indeed. There he was, shoulder-length blond hair, three days of growth lining his lower jaw, a plain white Yogi Bear shirt and blue jeans.

"Hey, you're right, Dad!" he said, "Zick did shoot up over the summer!"

Zick exchanged a puzzle look. "But Teddy, aren't you not allowed to live with your dad?"

Teddy beamed. "I turned eighteen two weeks ago, remember? That means I can now do whatever I want for the most part. I moved in with my dad on Tuesday."

Wait. Mister—Terrence came over for the night every Friday. Friday nights were often boring because he had to stay with nothing to do while his dad and Terrence went out on a "date." With Teddy in the picture…

To Zob's and Terrence's satisfaction, Zick beamed in the apartment for the first time in four years.


	2. Home Alone

**Phase One: Zick beside Himself**

**Chapter Two: Home Alone**

2222

"So what do you usually do right now?" Teddy asked, hopping back into the blue leather recliner to the right of the television. Terrence and Zob left for the bar a half hour earlier.

"Nothing much," Zick said, "Some snacking, watch a little TV, maybe go online when the internet isn't down…"

"What about when Elena's over?"

"She's never… been over…"

Teddy looked surprised. "Never ever literally?"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Why the heck not?"

Zick attempted to summarize her reasons. "She likes me and Dad, but… her parents don't want him near her after 'you-know-what' was exposed, and… some other stuff. It's pretty complicated."

Of course. Everything was complicated for the last four years.

"…Alright then… Wanna see what's on TV right now?"

"Fine with me."

Zick sat and adjusted his position on the beaten up, brown leather couch. After Teddy turned on the television, he asked: "Hey Teddy, why don't you sit here?", simultaneously pointing to the empty seat next to him.

Teddy shifted further back to his seat, even reaching for the lever on the chair's side to rise the footrest. "Nope; I'm already comfortable where I'm at!" He then kicked his sneakers off and emitted a sigh of relief to further illustrate his point.

Zick frowned, then stared at the screen. "Teddy, why the hell are you watching _Queer as Folk_?"

Teddy rose, snatched the remote from the couch arm closest to him, and switched it to _South Park_. "This okay?"

"Close enough, I guess," he said as he repositioned himself to lie on the couch like it was a mattress.

2222

Zob and Terrence returned six minutes before the struck of midnight. The younger two men were already asleep from boredom an hour earlier, but Zick woke up as soon as the door shut closed courtesy of two boisterous lovers.

"Oh no," Zick said, getting up.

"With is it, Zick?" Teddy said half-unintelligibly. He covered his eyes with a pillow as Zick turned on the light.

"Augh! What are you doing?"

"No offense, but when they're piss-poor drunk, our dads are pretty loud when they're fucking. And when they're _not_ piss-poor drunk, my dad tends to cry out my mom's name in his sleep- loudly," Zick said as he turned on the radio to full blast, then turned off the light. "If you don't like the noise, keep the pillow over your head."

Teddy grumbled something before he snored again a few minutes later.


	3. He Gave Me a Kiss

**Phase One: Zick beside Himself**

**Chapter Three: He Gave Me a Kiss (and it felt Like a Hit)**

3333

Zick was confused. If Teddy was so excited to see him, why did he act so strangely? He avoided being in close contact with him all Friday night, even dragging his sleeping bag across the bedroom.

The next morning, he was gone. As a breakfast of buttered toast and milk ended, even the initially confident Terrence became worried. To Zick's surprise, when Teddy finally entered through the front door just before noon, he had a gift for him.

"These should let your radio and eardrums get a rest," he said as he gave Zick a petite package: earplugs.

"Wow…" he said as he observed the pieces of foam encased in plastic as if inspecting a diamond. "Thanks a lot, Teddy!"

Teddy shrugged and stepped backwards. "Yeah, no problem. Uh, see you later Zick, Zob… I'll be outside, Dad!" he dashed towards the front door and slammed it so hard, Zob thought out loud:

"I swear, if he broke a hinge, Terrence, my landlord is going to give me hell to pay!" He shot out of the kitchen; Terrence grabbed his wallet and keys from the plain dark blue table-clothed table and followed him. Zick, still clutching the package, sat on a chair and snatched a piece of toast from the other side of the table.

3333

"You're not surprised?" Zick said, sitting on Elena's desk chair with the back between his legs. It was Monday; on weekdays he spent some time after school socializing with Elena.

Elena twisted her finger around a few red locks. Her hair was down—no pigtails since age fourteen. "Nope. Honestly, Zick, isn't Teddy _always _hiding something? Sooner or later, it comes out and we usually find ourselves in a hellhole because of it!"

"What do you think he's hiding this time?"

Elena cringed and cast a look at the window in front of her. "Uh… Maybe it'd be better if you didn't know this one."

"ELENA!" Zick rose from the chair. "We've been friends for what, four years now? You know I hate being sheltered like this!"

"Zick, I don't want to hurt you!"

"Damn you! Do you know how many times I've heard that in my life?"

"Yeah, but—"

"You know what, Elena?" he left the chair behind and began walking. "Leave me alone until I call you!"

Elena moved her trunk forward. "Uh oh…"

Zick skidded to a stop and got off the bike (he _really _needed to buy a new one…). He was at his father's apartment complex, but was not there for him.

He found Terrence's apartment number, and knocked on the door. Heavy footsteps came from inside, and Teddy opened the door.

"Zick!" He appeared (justly) shocked. "Um, sorry, I'm really, really busy now, but we can talk later, 'kay? Thanks, bye!"

Teddy began slamming the door to keep Zick out. "Oh no, you don't!" Zick yelled as he attempted to grab the door. Without thinking, he wrapped his fingers around the door, and they became trapped against the front door. He screeched, and Teddy reopened the door.

"Pipe down! You're gonna have someone call the landlord or the cops!"

Zick shoved the middle three fingers in his mouth and began sucking them; _he yelped for a damn reason, Teddy! _Still sucking his fingers, he replied, barely choking on them, "It really hurts!"

Teddy gave a pained look. The reluctant man said, "Okay, okay, I shouldn't be doing this, but if you promise to be quiet, you can come in. But _only _for a few minutes, understand?"

He widened the gap, and Zick scurried in. Zick followed the elder one into the black-and-white checkered tile kitchen where he was directed to sit in a chair at the round table. It wobbled.

"Uh… sit in the other chair; it's not broken."

Zick switched to the seat on the other side. It still wobbled, but far from the magnitude of the other. He removed the crunched fingers from his mouth and began rubbing them with his other hand. They still hurt like hell, but far from the magnitude of the previous few minutes.

Teddy removed the wood glue from a drawer behind Zick, and then turned around. "_Damn, _Zick! I didn't think it would be _that _bad! Hold on, let me get some band-aids!"

Zick continued rubbing his injured fingers. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine. I've had worse than my fingers getting stuck in a door…"

Teddy ignored him. He opened a cabinet stuffed with medicine and first aid paraphernalia on one shelf. He tossed a bottle of cough syrup and a package of laxatives on the floor, found the box of band-aids, and removed three. Dashing back to Zick, he unwrapped them and individually bandaged all three fingers.

"Um… Thanks…" he said as Teddy prepared a glass of ice water from the sink. Zick received the glass, and took a sip.

"Is it fine?"

He downed more of the drink. "Yeah, not bad. Thanks a lot, Teddy."

"No problem… Now can you get out of here?"

He was in-between another sip. "Oh no, I need to talk to you about something."

"Can it wait until this Friday? My dad's about to come back and he don't like visitors."

"Bullshit! I saw your dad driving out of the gate when I got here, and he _waved _at me. He shouldn't be back for a while!

"What I want to know is why the hell you've been acting so strange lately!" Zick continued, "First you're happy to see me, then you don't want to be near me, then you buy me earplugs before running away from me, then you want to stay away from me, then you give me first aid and suddenly want to drive me out of the apartment! Teddy Thaur, why the hell are you doing this to me?"

Teddy frowned, shifted his eyes away. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!"

He bit his lip. "You sure?"

"Yes!"

"You're really sure?"

"I've been saying 'yes' for a reason!"

"Okay… Don't say I didn't warn you…" He grabbed Zick by the shoulders, and planted his lips on the confused boy.


	4. Coming Clean

**Phase One: Zick beside Himself**

**Chapter Four: Coming Clean**

4444

_What is going on?_

Zick only saw Teddy's face as the other boy continued kissing him. His mouth was already open when he kissed, so Teddy's tongue shot past the teeth and swirled inside. Zick swiftly found it hard to breathe and himself uncomfortable; he could have sworn he must have been turning purple as Teddy also tightened his grip on his shoulders.

He needed to break free.

Zick lurched back and pushed. Teddy released his captive, who inhaled and exhaled deeply as his face's hue recovered.

"Wh-What the hell was that, Teddy?!"

"You wanted to know what I was hiding, so I showed you."

"You have a crush on someone?"

"Yeah—you." Teddy turned scarlet.

"Okay, the—_Who?! _Are you joking?!"

"Far from it."

"But but but—Why? Why _me_?"

"Because I like being around you, I feel my happiest and myself when I'm with you… What else do you need?"

"How… Long has this been going on?"

"… A little over four years."

Zick gasped. "Since you met me?"

"Well, not exactly. I uh, kinda found and spied on you when my mom mentioned your dad for the umpteenth time, and—"

"Hold it! You _spied _on me?"

"It wasn't to check you out, Zick, really!"

"Oh really? Then what was it really for?"

Teddy opened his mouth to speak, but before his voice box squeaked a defense, Zick interrupted:

"You know what? I don't want to know. Can you do me a favor and stay the hell away from me? I _never _want to talk with you again!"

Zick jumped from his chair and ran out of the apartment, breaking two friendships in one day. As he bicycled closer to his weekday residence, he concluded Elena was right—it _was _better for him to not know _that_ secret.


	5. El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Ezequiel

LM Simpson's tidbits: This is the final part of Phase One; guess what Phase Two is going to be!

Enjoy!

**Phase One: Zick beside Himself**

**Chapter Five: El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Ezequiel**

5555

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday lived and died. Monday provided the week's only action… in the real world.

The dream first conjured itself on Monday night and repeated verbatim each successive night. The characters were Teddy and him, and the setting was his father's couch. A television sitcom's laugh track provided background noise, while the set's screen was the only illumination source. Teddy glowed fluorescent white.

"Are you comfortable enough now?" That always began it.

Zick would initially not respond, mentally weighing his emotions. After all, this _was _a milestone he never thought about in this context. Eventually he would make his decision and nod. Teddy would smile and glow brighter. The younger half would lean towards Teddy, contort his torso to the appropriate angle, give him a quick lip-lock, slide off the couch, position himself in front of Teddy, unbuckle and place Teddy's belt beside its owner, pause and shake nervously, and then slowly reach for the zipper.

It was at that time Zick would always wake up. By Friday morning, he felt disappointed at the abrupt end, then horrified at his initial reaction as well as the sticky, wet spot between his legs. He shuddered, punched the clock, and began shedding his entire attire.

"Good morning, dear," Greta greeted him with at the kitchen. "Did you have any good dreams?"

Zick grabbed a cooked frosted toaster pastry and bit into it. "Uh… I've been having a… odd one for the last couple of days."

"Really? What is it like? I've heard that if you dream the same dream three nights in a row, it'll come true."

Zick stopped midway into his second bite. _Does it also apply to _four _nights in a row? _He turned to the clock. "Um… Oh, will you look at the time, I'm going to be late in a few minutes, bye Mom! I love you!"

He almost made it outside when she retorted: "But Zick, school doesn't start in fifty minutes! And isn't Elena supposed to come by in twenty minutes anyway?"

He twisted the knob. "No, I forgot I had a before-school club meeting this morning. Besides… Elena's still sick…"

5555

Ever since Teddy more or less came out of the closet, it was as if homosexuality invaded every inch of Zick's life. Aside from nocturnal-emission-inducing dreams, mere memories and school hallway observations sparked revelations. Remembering how Teddy and he were 'locker buddies' during his freshman year at gym, for example, caused him to wonder if Teddy was checking him out as he undressed. On Wednesday, he saw two junior boys hugging and kissing, only to be immediately cited for "public displays of affection" by an administrator (_Just how big is the gay population at this school?_).

Not even a crowded, boisterous lunchroom bore an exception.

"Ooh, guess what we talked about in first period today!" a blonde prep said to her two new "BFFs" as Zick observed across the table, eating a slice of cheese pizza.

"We don't know—what happened in psychology, Kitty?" Patty queried.

"Gay people!" Kitty replied. "According to the teacher, it's like, genetic or something, which is why there's twin pairs where both of them are gay."

"Oh, so you mean they really _are _born freaks of nature?" Mattie responded. She simultaneously stared at her fellow bluey, as if to say, "I know where you're hiding, fag."

Zick grunted, scooting as further down the lunch table as he could before he was interrupted by another group of friends; as if he wasn't already a freak by their definition!"

"What's his problem?" Kitty asked for neither girl in particular.

Mattie and Patty crowded to their respective side of the new girl. Patty began with, "That's just Zick; he's always been really strange," and Mattie continued, "He claims he can see monsters, and a couple of years ago his parents divorced because his mom discovered Daddy likes cock. My dad swears he's seen him dating with Teddy Thaur, a senior's, dad. I think Teddy and him are fuck buddies."

"You know, I can still hear you bitches from here!" Zick growled only seconds before the bell rang.

5555

"Zick, hurry up!" Greta yelled after school, "Your father's expecting you in less than thirty minutes!"

"But Mom! I don't feel so good!" Zick was in the bathroom armed with a can opener, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a can with its lid and seat up. He opened the soup can, positioned it above the toilet, and crafted retching sounds as he gradually dumped the stock into the water.

He heard a knock on the door. "Zick? Zick! Can I come inside?"

Out came the last of the soup. He forced himself to squeak "I think I'm finished, and I don't think I can go to Dad's tonight," as he placed the empty can in the trash.

"Alright, but I need to check your temperature to see if you have a fever."

"Okay…" He turned on the faucet, hid the can opener under the sink, and grabbed handfuls of toilet paper to conceal the soup can. The tamer then opened the door, continuing the charade in front of Greta. "I'll be in bed…"

Before even a minute elapsed, his mother screamed: "Ezekiel Zick! This is something I expect from a _six_-year-old, not a _sixteen_-year-old!"

Zick stepped back to the bathroom. "H-how did you know I was faking it?"

"Since when did you eat an entire can of cream of mushroom soup in one sitting?" she jiggled the empty can.

He giggled nervously. "About that…"

"What has gotten into you, Zick? You haven't become this defiant ever since you discovered… 'it.'" Four years later, she still could not utter "the affair."

"I'm uh,… Um… Everyone's been making fun of me because I have a gay dad. It's gotten _really _bad lately." _Well, it's not exactly a lie if it's only a couple of people…_

"So you don't want to be there so the teasing will stop?"

"…Yeah…"

Greta's frown grew dourer. "Zick, I'm so sorry. It's just that they only see what they know; they don't see anything beyond 'gay, gay, ew' because they can't. Is it any specific people?"

"…No…"

"I'll make arrangements with your guidance counselor then, okay? I'm so sorry I can't do much other than that…"

Zick hugged her. "If you're doing all you can, then you're the perfect mom to me."

She hugged him back. "Thanks, Zick… Now go finish packing. I'll tell Zob you came home tired and took a little nap."

"Thanks, Mom."

A half-hour later, Zick rode towards the apartment complex. For once, he found himself not mentally bitching about his bike or how crappy the weekend was going to be, but reflecting on what his mother told him outside the bathroom earlier:

_It's just that they only see what they know; they don't see anything beyond 'gay, gay, ew' because they can't…_

Regardless of attempts to do otherwise, he found it difficult to shun the words from his conscience. A twang in his heart and a pain in his abdomen occupied him across an intersection. No speculation was necessary; he knew why.

That was _him._

_How could I be so _stupid? He thought. _I completely forgot who Teddy was after he told me he loved me! Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

_Wait—I haven't seen Teddy at school all week… What if he—_Zick felt his aches compressing and his insides burning. _No, no! He couldn't have killed himself… Could he?_

The sensations intensified. He _had _to hurry! The bike ride became more uncomfortable as he sped closer to the complex, but he needed to know…

He dashed towards apartment 21's front door, opened it, and ran into the kitchen.

"Woah! A little rest definitely did you some good!" Zob exclaimed at the table!

Zick ignored his father and grabbed Terrence's shoulders. Shaking him back and forth, he bellowed, "TERRENCE! TERRENCE! Where's Teddy?"

"H-h-he's—"

"Where?! Spit it out!"

"C-calm d-down and I'll t-tell you!"

The younger tamer obeyed, and the elder tamer explained, "Teddy's been home all week with a really bad case of the flu. He's feeling better than he did on Wednesday, but he still feels crappy enough to stay home today."

"So he's still alive?"

"… Of _course_ he's still alive!"

Zick sighed, relived. "Oh good…"

"Just what got you thinking my son was dead, Zick?" Terrence asked.

"Uh… Mother's—er, friend's intuition?" Zick replied with a goofy, nervous smile.

Zob and Terrence exchanged awkward expressions and silence. The former reaction remained even when Zob found it in himself to finally say "Okay then… We're going to go do some errands… We're going to also bring home a movie and pizza over when we get back, okay?"

"Fine with me," replied Zick.

He spent twenty minutes surfing channels in vain (TV _always _sucked on Fridays) and staring at the ceiling (the neighbors _really _sucked at fixing the cracks in their floor) afterward before it occurred to him:

"I need to apologize to Teddy."

Then another thought blossomed:

"But first…"


	6. The Best Way through a Man's Feelings

LM Simpson's tidbits: somehow deleted some of the text in this chapter... so here it is _with_ the deleted text.

Enjoy!

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Six: The Best Way through a Man's Feelings is His Stomach  
**

(Route) 66 (Route) 66

Zick waited for the homepage to load. "Come on, come on…" An hourglass and a status bar indicated the computer's effort; he could not remember the last time he saw Windows XP, but his father somehow found it. The hourglass disappeared, and the page read "Page cannot be displayed."

"Dammit!" he cursed, unplugging the offwhite computer and monitor. On to the kitchen to find a cookbook.

There were only two in the room, and he did not find what he was looking for even though he looked at "lemon," "ice cream/ices," and "sorbet/sherbet" in the indexes.

He sighed; time to break out the teleskates… He found them under a pile of clothes and old papers in his room, broke them back in (_oh, tight!_) and teleported to where his mother kept her cookbooks.

_I gotta make this quick… _He opened the cabinet and found of books ranging from French cuisine to _Best of Southern Living_. Zick skimmed through the index of a homemade desserts book; jackpot! He grabbed a bag of lemons in the room and returned to his father's apartment.

Rummaging through the kitchenware and utensil drawer, he found plastic measuring cups and filled them with the required amounts of water and sugar. The stovetop was turned on high to insure a swift boil, and Zick dumped both ingredients into a pot.

While waiting for boiling sugar water to occur, he broke out the man-powered, old school juicer and sliced in half a couple of lemons with a fruits squirted, dripping juice on the counter. He grabbed the halves and began the labourous process of collecting one and a half cups of lemon juice.

He was at half a cup when he smelled something burning—the sugar water! Zick turned off the stove and read the second step: "Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved, about five minutes." It was well past five minutes. The pot found itself inside the sink with the mess still inside it and replaced by an empty one on the stove.

Zick spent another half-hour squeezing lemons and grating lemon peels before attempting the sugar water mixture again; aside from a sugar burn (a band-aid would have been nice _then!),_ the process went smoothly. He fanned the cookbook over the mixture to cool it faster, mixed in the lemon juice and lemon peel, and read the instructions again: "Pour into the cylinder of an ice cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's directions."

Eyes inflated, he tried to remember if he had ever even _seen_ an ice cream maker. There _was_ that the hand-cranked one in the third grade when the class made ice cream, but electric was definitely out of the question, especially if it required a trip to Wal-Mart. Hoping it would work, he poured the goop into the largest cylindrical container he could find and placed it in the freezer.

He waited an hour before checking on his sorbet-to-be. It was far from ready for human consumption.

"Augh! How long is this going to take?!"

Zick puckered his lips and blew. All it confirmed was that he was indeed not Jack Frost. He did not know when Zob and Terrence would be coming back (A half-hour? An hour? Ten minutes?), but he wanted to get in Teddy's apartment pretty soon.

Sneaking into the university lab was a possilbility. But he had no idea where exactly the lab was, let alone if it had liquid nitrogen. And if his alibi when security arrested him was he was making water ice for a friend, it would be all over school come Monday that Mister Freak Zick was caught breaking into a lab, presumably to get high off the chemicals or create his own monsters.

So he simply froze it until it had a soft-serve consistency. "Screw it," he said. "it's still ice cream." He removed the canister from the freezer, found his shoes, and exited the apartment.

At the Blue Ridge, or Northern, building, Zick waited outside apartment number 120 until Teddy opened the door. He was pale, his hair was unwashed, and he was dressed in a white t-shirt, blue, green and yellow plaid boxers, and ankle socks. The tamer appeared well enough to stand and talk, but also sick enough that he still coughed and had a runny nose and a sore throat.

"Zick?" Teddy rasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you on Monday."

He coughed. "Trust me, calling you a jerk is just sugarcoating it."

"I know… I want to be friends with you again."

"You do? Then what was all that 'I never want you to talk to me again' crap for?"

"Teddy, I wasn't really thinking. I mean, what would you do if a guy you always thought was straight not only kissed you, but also told you he loved you?"

Teddy cast away his face, propping a hand against the entrance.

Zick remembered the warming and increasingly condensating container against his chest. "Oh, well uh, here—I made this for you," he said, giving the ice dessert to Teddy. "You may want to freeze it a little longer but—"

Teddy opened the container's top. "—Well I'll be damned, you tried to make your own lemon sorbet." He sampled a finger swipe-ful. "Yeah, it needs to get harder, but the flavor's good. Thanks, Zick!"

He grinned. "Don't mention it!" Suddenly, he realized: _Oh no! Dad and Terrence might be coming home any second now!_ "Um, I uh, gotta go now, Teddy, but I guess I'll see you again on Monday, okay?"

"Why not tomorrow? I should be pretty much fine by then. Dammit, I'm already pretty much fine right now…"

"Probably; my dad will most likely say 'yes' if I ask if you can come over."

Teddy coughted than smiled. "Okay then—see you later, Zick!"


	7. Saturday Night

LM Simpson's tidbits: So sorry for the late update; it's always annoying to start writing only to have the parents tell you to do something _now_, especially in the hectic holidays…

I wrote really implicit sex in "Dark Side," but this chapter has actual fucking in it. Once again, don't expect it to be so great from little ol' me, considering the circumstances…

But enjoy anyway!

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Seven: Saturday Night**

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At six-thirty sharp, the bell rang. Both Zicks knew the visitor's identity.

"Hello there, Teddy!" Zob said while Teddy trotted through with a mint green duffle bag. "It's been awhile since I've you!"

Zick blasted into the hallway. "Wow, you're actually here, Teddy! Hey, uh, you want me to get that for you?" He pointed at the duffle bag.

"Uh… Sure…"

The youngest of the three snatched the bag and sped towards his room. The older of the three, however, remained idle.

"Damn," Zob finally said, "I knew having you here would impact Zick's behavior, but I didn't think it would be _this _much!"

Teddy only removed a cough drop from his pants pocket, uncurled the sides, and popped it into his mouth. Until Zick returned, Zob only heard sucking sounds in response.

"Wow," Teddy said when he arrived at Zick's room with his younger host trailing behind him a few minutes later. "You already set up all my stuff?"

"Uh-huh." Teddy's red sleeping bag laid a close distance from Zick's bed. Both of Zick's pillows sat on the bag, while Teddy's plaid pillow and Ranger Smith nightshirt were placed on the bed.

"You know Teddy," he continued, "sleeping on the floor can't be good for someone who was just sick. How about you sleep on my bed tonight and I sleep in your sleeping bag instead?"

"… Zick, the 'lemon sorbet' was already really generous… You _don't_ have to do this, you know…"

"But you're my guest! I_ have_ to treat you like a king!"

"Boys!" Zob called from the kitchen. "The Chinese food is here!"

"'Kay, Dad!"

The two left the room. As they neared the kitchen, Teddy whispered, "I _may_ be your _guest_, but I want you to treat me like a _friend!_"

7777

Zick plopped onto the couch, rubbing his full stomach and not bothering to turn on any lights. Teddy stepped towards the bathroom, rubbing his rough hands and saying something about hand lotion. Zob entered the living room, rubbing his aching head, and saying:

"You two are old enough to take care of yourselves, right?"

"Yeah… You okay, Dad?"

"Just a migrane that's been bothering me all day, that's all. I'm going to take an aspirin and hit the sack in the minute. You know what you should and shouldn't do; just have a good time, okay?"

"Okay. 'Night Dad; love you."

"Love you too, Zick."

The swing of the bathroom door occurred after Zob departed. Seconds later, Teddy placed the bottle of lotion he obtained from the bathroom on the table beside the recliner. He sat on the left side of the couch and turned on the television.

"What do you want to watch?" The older tamer offered.

"Whatever sounds good to you, I guess."

Teddy pressed the channel button. With each successive press, he commented, "Sitcom, sitcom, sitcom, teen drama, extremely censored action flick, shitty cartoon, nature show, shitty cartoon, Mickey Mouse, sitcom, sitcom, news, news, sitcom, sitcom, sports, sports, sitcom—"

"Ugh! Just keep it on whatever channel is next, then!"

Teddy tapped the button repeatedly, so the channels flashed too fast for either one to catch more than a blinking glimpse of the channel's content. It was everyone's guess what it would be on. Finally, it ended at…

"A freaking sitcom!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Eh, just keep it on," Zick shrugged. _And I thought the last time Teddy came over was a disaster!_

The sitcom was infested with one cliché after another. Goofy, borderline-Homer Simpson intelligence father? Check? Intelligent, undeserving-of-what-she-has wife? Check? Bratty teenage daughter and preteen son? Check. Dictator-of-when-thou-shalt-laugh laugh track? Check, check, and _checkmate_.

Teddy was clearly not enjoying the "Hellraising in-laws are staying over" plot either, as Zick discovered when he turned his head towards that direction.

There was an awkward silence. He had to say _something_.

As Teddy rubbed his hands with the seemingly white lotion again (it was hard to tell when the TV screen emitted a white glow on everything in its path), he said, "I know you love me… Do you know I love you too?"

Teddy stopped, then raised a brow. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"So you're saying you're the perfect example of homophobe equals really in the closet shaking with your tail between your legs?"

"… Yes."

"I'm not believeing you."

_Sigh. Dammit. _"Well, just to let you know, I made that horrible excuse of lemon sorbet for a reason!"

"Because you wanted to say you're sorry to shut me up!"

"No, to say that I'm sorry, and because I was concerned about you! I have always cared about you, even when you were being a jerk! I didn't _have _to call you to help me when I needed a problem all the time, dammit, but I did! So, you're just as bad as I was on Monday right now!"

Teddy was silent, contemplating the perfect response. "Really?" he finally said. "You mean all this?"

"Damn right I am!"

He smiled. "I'd kiss you, but I just had the flu. Don't want to rise your risk of getting it higher than it already is."

"Well, you don't need to kiss to have sex, right?"

Teddy stood, stunned. "Really? That's a really big thing to do Zick… Are you comfortable enough?"

He thought about it. Teddy _was _right—this _was_ a really big thing to do… It wasn't everyday one fucked someone he thought as a best friend, after all. There was also the risk of Teddy or him unintentionally or intentionally declassifying the confidential. But even then, he did not tell anyone about the Monday incident, and Teddy could not even if he wanted to (though then again, if he concealed his crush on him for four years…).

"Okay… But can we _please_ not do anal now? I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

Teddy pouted. "Okay then… is Oxford style fine with you then?"

"… Oxford style?"

"You've… never heard of Oxford style?"

Zick shook his head. "What is it?"

"Alright then…" Teddy began. "Pretty much, you fuck me as you thrust into my thighs. Is that a clear enough picture?"

"Yeah…"

"How about I let you do it to me… But just this one time?"

"Fine with me. Am I going to have to use any kind of lube though?"

"Um… Yeah…" He gave him the lotion bottle. "Just squirt whatever you think is a good amount."

Zick stared at the bottle, then contorted his torso so that he could give Teddy a quick peck on the cheek. He then slid to the floor, placed the lotion on the floor to his left, and sat on the knees in front of Teddy. The belt was unbuckled, then tossed onto the recliner to not get it damaged. He paused, hand shaking, then slowly unzipped the other's pants. Zick then tugged on the ends of the pant legs, and Teddy adjusted his position by rising up so that his boxers were exposed as Zick reunited the pair with the belt. His heart beated faster as he reached for the elastic (as did Teddy, who also breathed faster), then exposed the other from the waist down.

The younger tamer took a deep breath. His turn.

He shed his own jeans and boxers and laid them to his right, away from the couch as well. With the bottle in hand, he squirted a handful, then smeared it from the head to further up the shaft. He felt a faint rumble down there, then attempted to position himself in front of his friend-turned-lover.

Teddy already closed his legs and laid down on the couch, that he could make out with only the television on. Zick got back on the couch and got on top of his friend. He placed his hands against Teddy's upper arms, but they began slipping forward.

"You used too much," Teddy said as he grabbed Zick's hands one by one and rubbed them against his Yogi Bear shirt.

"Ready now, Boo Boo Bear?" he said with a smile when he finished and repositioned Zick's right hand.

Zick frowned, annoyed. That almost killed it right there. The two exchanged looks for a few moments before Zick lowered himself and aimed for just below Teddy's crotch.

His penis bumped against Teddy's on the way down. The older one emitted a quick, shuddering breath. He found himself into the fault between Teddy's thighs after some searching, then began sliding to get hard. After several minutes, he felt only two previews of upcoming orgasm and only heard the sitcom's canned laughter and his dad's snoring in his bedroom. It was like the show was _mocking _him for his incompetence.

Zick growled. This may have been his first time, but he was _not _going to fail it! Wrapping his arms under Teddy, he stopped near the other's length and began a constant motion against it into the valley. He continued thrusting and felt a fire in his lower belly spreading, and his heartbeat increased. Teddy's breath became more labored as he became harder.

Zick began feeling tired, but carried on. Now he felt closer than ever to climax. He thrusted harder and harder; Teddy cried out and threw his head as far as he could onto the arm of the couch. Everything tensed in an interesting mix of pain and pleasure, and throbbing cock thrusted alongside throbbing cock. Zick breathed in sharply and with one final thrust felt the release. Zick and Teddy both came, and the younger grunted and collapsed atop his partner. The two ignored the sitcom's ending credits as they shuddered and simply laid there in the dark, feeling each other's slowing heartbeats and rising chests.


	8. The Silent Treatment

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Eight: The Silent Treatment**

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Zick's bedroom lacked a window, so before checking his digital clock, he was not aware that it was Sunday morning—eight thirty-nine in the morning, to be exact. The bedroom door was just cracked wide enough so that he could hear his dad watching a news channel and could see the living room light reflecting on the wall across the room.

As he scratched at his nappy head, the bed sheets shifted away from him. He grabbed a fistful and tugged back.

"Hey!" Teddy, who changed into his Ranger Smith shirt before sleeping the night before, flipped over to look at Zick. "What did you do that for? It's freezing in here!"

_A little 'good morning' would have been nice…_ "You were hogging all the covers!"

"Oh." Teddy pulled a few inches of sheets towards the bed's other occupant. "This enough?"

They covered both legs. "Yeah, thanks."

"No problem… Say uh, do you know what time it is?"

"About nine in the morning."

"Nine in the morning?! I should be getting up right now—"

"But do you _want _to get up?"

"No, not really…"

"Then why don't you stay here for a few more minutes?" Zick said. "It _is _the weekend after all, Teddy!

Teddy smiled, then curled up against Zick.

"Okay, but if my Dad gets angry at me, I'm blaming you." He said before giving Zick a kiss on the cheek. Zick felt warm, and then kissed him back on the lips.

8888

It was Monday, the first day of the week—perfect to start over fresh. Zick decided to take the day's offer of a clean (or, at least, cleaner) start as he entered the front hall of Old Mill High School. He had been a self-admitted sourpuss for a long time (especially in the last two years) and it almost destroyed him more than the divorce did. Starting that day on, he pledged, he would be Ezekiel Zick, the sixteen-year-old outcast that wasn't perfect by a long shot, but had the best damn friends a boy could ask for, dammit!

Of course, he only remedied one tie before Monday. Now he needed to track down friend number two.

He found her at her locker, obtaining the supplies she required for the first two periods, and wearing her red hair down, a long-sleeved pink shirt, and blue pants.

"ELENA!"Zick called. She tensed up and rushed as Zick ran to a skidding stop at the locker. Elena closed the door with her shoulder and began to leave as he told her:

"Hold on a minute, Elena! Don't go!"

She continued down the hall. He stayed at the blue locker.

"Oh, come on, Elena! I know you can hear me!" _Grr, she's really taking this 'leave me alone' stuff literally!_

"Elena Potato! Your best friend is calling for you to get your butt over here _right now!_"

Zick was not even deigned a turning head. It was time for a last resort, even if it could get him hurt or worse.

"POTATO!"

Elena stopped. Although she was far down the hall by now, she was at a close enough distance that Zick could get a good enough sight of her grimacing when she turned her head. An arm was freed as the other struggled to the entire burden of books, notebooks, and binders, and it clenched its hand into a fist, raising it when the transformation was done.

"Did I hear what I just heard, Ezekiel Zick?"

"Yes you did! Now that I got your attention—"

"Let me warn you that you are damn lucky you're not near me right now, because if I was right next to you, you would be hurt so badly you wouldn't be able to have kids!"

A group of students were gawking by the time Elena reached the stairs and moved on. While some left for class and others chatted to their friends, Zick thought with a hurt gut, "If I keep doing what I just started, I probably won't have kids to begin with!"

8888

"Geez, what a shitty day this was…"

Zick was not at home long enough to drop his backpack next to the front door when Greta called from the den:

"Zick? Is that you?"

"Yeah…"

"Aren't you supposed to be next door right now? Or is Elena still sick?" she asked.

He sighed. "No, but she wasn't in a really good mood at all today. I'll be in my room if you need me…"

His grandparents were also in the living room, evidenced by hearing his grandma's knitting needles clicking against each other. Halfway up, the clinks stopped, and he said, "Can I just be left alone for once?"

Zick pictured Theo's and Tessa's displays of disappointment as he threw himself head first onto his bed and laid there with his pillow covering his face.


	9. Schematic

**LM Simpson's tidbits: **I "think" I made up the phone number in this. Please do **not** call it because the last thing I need right now is seeing people on the news pissed off because some crazy kids thought it would be hardy-har-har hilarious to prank call them. Got it? Good. That is all.

Enjoy!

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Nine: Schematic **

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Zick woke up at twilight. As he titled his head from the pillow, he wondered when did he fall asleep. It was the only thing he could think of, though maybe it was a good thing, because school was truly a nightmare. He contemplated about resuming his sojourn with the sandman (he could always read "Song of Myself" in the morning); his eyelids only locked back into place when he heard his mother summon him for dinner. His body complained it was too tired to move on, so he laid cataconically until Theo stood by his bed and reminded him that his spaghetti was going to be soggy and cold by the time he came down.

His bedroom window revealed a navy blue sky when he returned. As much as he hated to say it, the cooled down, tomato-sauce covered plate proved the second best thing that happened to him that day; as for the best thing, it was—Wait.

He dug into his right pocket. Out came his cell phone in his hand when he exited. After flipping it open, he pressed "nine" on the number pad. It was not going to connect him to him immediately, but it should be worth it in the end, he reasoned.

"Hello?" asked a familiar female voice.

"Hi, Ms. Johanna," he said, "it's me, Zick."

"Zick?" It had been awhile since she heard from him. "How are you?"

"Um… Okay, I guess… But do you know Terren—Mister Thaur's phone number? I want to talk to Teddy but his cell phone was stolen recently and—"

"Don't worry, I get it…" Johanna sighed on the other end of the line. "Alright, I don't want to do this, but since you asked… 770-111-1313."

He repeated it mentally. "Thanks, ma'am."

"You're welcome. Oh, when you call Teddy, can you tell him to explain to me why he never called to tell me 'good night' last Saturday? It isn't like him to do that."

Zick frowned, feeling guilty. "… I will. 'Bye." He pressed "end," then dialed the number before he could forget it.

The dial tone beeped thrice before Terrence answered.

"Hey Terrence, is Teddy there by any chance?"

"Yes… Do you want to talk to him?"

Zick sat dumbfounded on his bed. _Uh, yeah, why else would I be calling? _"Yes…"

"Hold on—TEDDY! 'Phone for you!"

Zick did not wait long before his new best friend's voice cracked on the other side. "Zick?"

"Yeah… Are you doing anything right now?"

"No… What is it, Zick?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Well I'm here right now. Shoot."

"Teddy, can you come over? I had a really bad day and—"

"Hold on, I'll be right over." The other line went dead.

For the second time in not even five minutes, Zick pressed the "end" button. _Hmm, that was quick!_

Forty five minutes later, he heard a knock on his door. "Zick, it's me."

"It's unlocked; come on in." He moved so his legs were over the side of his bed. Teddy sat by him upon entering.

"What took you so long?" Zick asked, looking across the room, not at the boy whose arm wrapped around his waist, whose lips were at his cheek.

"I had to get some old books from American Lit. Y'know, to get a better excuse to be here at nine o' clock on a school night? You can just donate them at the end of the semester; I never want to even look at the cover of _A Farewell to Arms_ again." He shuddered.

"Oh."

"Well, what do you need to talk to me about?"

"For one thing," began Zick, "just to say that today just _blew_. I came to school all happy, but Elena gave me the silent treatment, I was late to second period because this guy refused to leave me alone until I bought the school paper from him, my shoelace came undone and I tripped on it, my lunch got stolen, and I got hit in the back of the head with a metal bat in gym."

"_Shit._"

"Shit indeed. You remember when we bumped into each other inbetween second and third periods? It was the only good thing that happened to me today."

Teddy's lips barely curled up. He had no idea whether to feel honored or not.

"The other thing… I know you two aren't really on good terms with each other, but can you try to get Elena to talk to me again? I really miss talking to her too."

"Why did Elena quit talking to you?"

"I was being an ass to her like I was to you last week." He tilted his head down.

"Oh, so _that's _why you were pissed!... Sure I will. What do you want me to do?"

"Just stand by me as I'm trying to talk to her before school starts. Oh, and intervene when I need help."

"Good. I don't like to be in the audience or waiting on the sidelines too much."

Zick tilted his head back up, then smiled at Teddy. "Thanks," he said before kissing him on the lips.

Teddy returned with a full embrace and kiss when the other finished his. Zick did the same before both locked lips simultaneously. He grew warmer, especially in the chest, and especially when Teddy's erection pressed against him. While he pushed his tongue in Teddy's mouth his fingers dribbled down Teddy's sides to his khakis. The two breathed deeply as the younger tamer's hands dove inside the other's pants, then touched his penis; Teddy drew in a sharp breath. Zick stopped; Teddy frowned.

"Keep… Going…" he breathed.

Zick's heartbeat skyrocketed as he resumed rubbing Teddy's cock; before long, he felt his own begging for the same. Teddy must have noticed, as one of his hands slithered inside and brushed it. It felt so wonderful, but after stopping for a second it was back to business. The two continued rubbing, rubbing, and their throbbing members proved they were getting close.

"Faster! Faster! Faster!" Teddy cried out inbetween short breaths. Zick only moaned louder as he tried to, even as one of Teddy's fingers touched his balls.

The rush finally became too much for the both of them. Teddy came first, shortly followed by Zick as he was trapped in his own earthquake. The two leaned back against the wall with their hands still inside the other's pants.

When Teddy became soft again, Zick finally distubed the room's silence when he said, "What time do you usually get to school?"

"Eight twenty."

"Can you get to the front of the school at a quarter to eight?"

"I'll try."

Zick grinned. "See you then."


	10. The Kids Aren't Alright

**LM Simpson's tidbits: **Did you know that February 9, 2009, is supposed to be the date of a real life lunar eclipse? To celebrate this fact, the tenth chapter to this baby is being updated on Monday (since that's when the lunar eclipse is going to occur). I totally love writing this fanfic, and thanks for the support I've gotten so far!

Enjoy!

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Ten: The Kids Aren't Alright**

10101010

Zick reached Old Mill High School (Home of the Millers!) five minutes before his planned rendezvous with Teddy. _ Alright, _he thought,_ he swore that he left the apartment complex fifteen minutes ago, so if traffic's good the whole time he should be here right on time…_

Seven minutes passed, then ten. _Where the hell is he? Elena's gonna be here in a few minutes! _

Immediately after he checked his watch for what he viewed as the millionth time, Terrence's car pulled up. Teddy stepped out with his bookbag and what resembled a white paper bag, waved at his father, and walked up the stairs as he drove off down the road.

"What the heck were you doing?" Zick said, more annoyed than angered. "Elena should be going to her locker in three minutes!"

"Calm down! It shouldn't take too long to get there since there aren't three thousand kids here." He opened the paper bag. "You like jelly doughnuts, right?"

"Yeah…" Teddy handed him a powdered doughnut that filled the recipient's hand. Zick tore a mouthful as he followed him into the hall, continuing to take bites that flew sugared powder onto his shirt and the floor. He licked his fingers and patted the residue off when they reached her locker.

"Teddy, stop!"

He was seven lockers down. "What?"

Zick pointed to the top locker to his right. "It's right here!"

They split a chocolate doughnut, leaving crumbs on or encircling the fronts of their shoes. Teddy stuffed his half in and began choking on the dry cake; Zick ate his in thirds, but still felt some stuck in his throat. It was just enough time to kill before the hall's population grew and one of the handfuls of redheads in the school stepped down the hall towards them.

"You remember what to do?" Zick asked.

"Yeah," Teddy replied as he crushed the empty doughnut bag in a ball with his hands, and then stuffed it down his jean pocket.

Elena stopped in front of the duo. She wore an apple green short sleeve shirt and blue jeans, had her cranberry bookbag swung over her right shoulder, and clearly not amused. "Zick, Teddy—"she said the latter name with an especially bitter face—"can you two let get to my locker?"

Teddy almost opened his mouth, but Zick cut him off. "Not until you let me apologize to you first."

"Why should I let you apologize to me? The last time I tried to talk to you last week, you told me to 'fuck off' during algebra II. And you haven't called me at all for the last week!"

Teddy had control over the conversation then. He butted in, "Why should he when you're being an asshole yourself?"

She glared at him. Pointing, she said, "Oh yeah, that reminds me—guess what Zick called me yesterday? I think he got it from being with you all the time!"

"Oh, come on, Elena!" Teddy exclaimed. "You know that I haven't called you that since I was fifteen! Besides, you know I'm not the only one in this school that calls—or called—you—"

"Don't you dare say it—"

"—Potato!"

Zick gulped as he saw smoke and fire brewing in her brown eyes. She inhaled deeply and tried to calm down, but her fists clenched and before he knew it Mount Elena erupted. "YOU FUCKASS!"

His jaw dropped, as did Teddy's. _Holy shit, that's harsh! Does she know he's—? _

Teddy was apparently thinking the same thing. After his initial reaction, his jaw clenched and it seemed steam was coming from _his _ears. His face was red. "Say that again."

"Fuck… Ass."

He pointed at her. "You fucking… bitch."

"Say _that _again."

"Fucking… Bitch… Potay—"

She swung her bag at them. Zick jumped out of the way, but it struck Teddy's face. Teddy grabbed his face, dazed for a couple of seconds, then retaliated with body slamming her to the ground.

_What do I do, what do I do? _Zick thought as his two best friends began punching, kicking, biting, and pulling each other's hair. Like yesterday's happenings, a crowd had gathered and cheered on the two fighters. It was going to get ridiculously within moments if he didn't do anything immediately.

Teddy grunted as Elena's sandal and hand struggled to push him off her, while Elena cried out as Teddy pulled harder on a handful of hair. Teddy suddenly felt another pair of arms clasping him from the back and a weight on there as well. Zick jerked Teddy up, but not before the fighting boy could let go of Elena's trapped strands. Elena shrieked when Teddy was on his feet, and the two boys looked down at the bunch of red hair in Teddy's hand.

"Oh gee—" Elena lunged at him, but Teddy pushed her back, then against her locker.

"USE THE BAG! USE THE BAG!" the spectators screamed.

Teddy would have listened if it weren't for the fact Zick grabbed Elena's heavy bookbag from the floor, which had been unattended to since the fight began. He then tried to again pull his lover back from his friend, but Teddy kept punching her while Elena kept kicking at him.

_I shouldn't do this, but… _Zick struggled to raise the bag from the top handle, swung it to the right, then—

"All three of you! Stop that right this instant!"

Teddy, Zick, and Elena simultaneously stopped; Zick even dropped the bookbag and rubbed his wrist. It was Mister Buckertt, the same administrator that cited the junior boys kissing in the hall the week before. The crowd grew silent as they waited for what the elderly, bearded man in the blue suit would say.

"What are your names? And I mean full names?"

"Teddy Thaur…"

"Elena Potato…"

"Ezekiel Zick…"

"All right then… Mister Thaur, Mister Zick, and Miss Potato, please come with me to the front office this instance; I'm going to need to call your parents…"

"I can't believe we're not going to jail right now," Elena whispered as the trio walked behind the administrator. The school had a policy where anyone caught in a fight on school grounds would be arrested.

"That's because they wait until after school ends, usually really late at night, before they do it," Teddy said. "I know someone that got arrested at one in the morning after having a fistfight in the cafeteria."

"_One in the morning? _What if you were in the middle of sleeping?"

"Stay up all night then, I guess." He shrugged.

Mister Buckertt opened the door to his office, and then redirected them to the wooden and dark red leather chairs in front of his paper, pen, and computer cluttered desk. "Sit down, and be good little children while I go get your contact information in the attendance office. " And with that, he left; Elena sat on the farthest right chair in direction to the desk, Zick in the center, and Teddy to Zick's left.

"Do you think I'm going to be arrested too?" Zick said.

"Maybe—you kinda, um, intervened."

Zick groaned and threw his head back. "You two just _had_ to decide to beat the shit out of each other!"

"Well, sorry, Zick, but Elena here just had to call me a 'fuckass!'"

"And well, sorry, Zick, but Teddy here just had to call me a 'bitch' _and _'Potato!'"

"And you should have just let me saying my apology in the first place! I know what a fucking dick I've been, okay? I'm sorry for telling you to 'fuck off' last week, I'm sorry for not calling you, and… part of that was because I was trying to find out what Teddy's secret was and didn't want an interruption!" Okay, that was not exactly a white lie—that was part of the reason why he left her house early on Monday…

Elena's eyes widened, but not to the degree Teddy's did at "Teddy's secret." "So did you?" she smirked.

"Yeah…" Teddy was squirming by now.

"What is it?"

By now, Teddy's hands were positioned as if he were in prayer and his lips mouthed silent words repeatedly. If Zick was going to divulge his real secret it would be the worst betrayal he ever encountered up to that time…

Zick needed to come up with something _now (leave it up to me to just blurt something out! ...). _He required a total lie, if not another white one. Otherwise, Teddy and he would already be through in less than a week.

"He, uh, likes _Happy the Happy Hippo!" _ Eh, close enough, considering the Yogi Bear and Ranger Smith t-shirts and the "Boo Boo Bear" pet name… Besides, Hanna-Barbara anything was more acceptable than the babiest of preschool shows.

Teddy's face was split between the relieved and the not amused as Elena burst out laughing. "That was not exactly what I was expecting, but that is just _gold_!"

"Can I see you after school again, then?" Zick asked.

"Of course!" Elena said. "I'm so sorry for misunderstanding you!"

The door opened; Mister Buckertt's head dove in. "Your parents are here. Come with me again."

All three pairs of parents, plus the campus officer, were already crowded around the desk of the principal when the quartet entered.

"Good morning, you three!" Mister Bartow said. "Come, have a seat. We'd love to hear from you all!"

There were three free seats, each one next to a parent's pair. The condemned trio separated and sat beside their flesh and blood.

"So, would anyone want to tell their account of what exactly happened?"

Teddy rose up and pointed to the girl to his far right. "She called me a 'fuckass!'" Terrence covered his face and shook his head immediately afterwards.

"… Okay, then… Why did you call Mister… Thaur, it is? a… 'fuckass?'" he turned his head to Elena.

"He called me 'Potato!'" Julie covered _her _face and shook his head immediately afterwards.

"So… a bunch of name calling lead to a lot of fighting?"

The three nodded their heads.

Mister Bartow shook his head. "You kids do know that there we have guidance counselors and peer mediators to avoid this, right?"

The three nodded their heads again.

"We just have bad anger management problems," Elena excused.

"That still shouldn't mean you should have fought on school grounds, young lady… I'll say this: the good news is that you will not be arrested, even though you fought on school grounds. If I get one more fight I need to report this early into the school year, the school will lose some serious budgeting. Instead, you will be required to participate in anger management classes every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon for the remaining weeks this semester. The same will go to Mister Thaur and Mister Zick."

Zick started to rise up, but Zob pushed a hand onto his leg. "Don't," he said, "we'll work it out later."

"However, the twenty days out of school suspension _will _go on as normal. It will start today and you will be forbidden from being on school grounds or making up assignments given to you this semester through the end of the suspension period. I am so sorry for doing this, but it is school policy. There's always next semester though…

"Have a nice day."

Elena waved goodbye to Zick before she walked beside Harvey and Julie through the front door, as did Zick. He could hear Teddy's parents behind him; he was clearly getting screwed the most, being a senior and all (his mother was especially disappointed).

"Don't worry Mom," Teddy reassured her, "I only need government left to graduate and I have it _next _semester!"

"That doesn't mean your GPA will not suffer!" she retorted.

"See you later, Teddy," Zick called out.

"Yeah… I hope so," he said before Johanna continued chewing him out.

Zick's face was distant as he was met with gloomy gray clouds and cool air outside.


	11. Primal Instinct

**LM Simpson's tidbits: **Writer's block sucks. I'm so sorry this chapter took so long. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often during spring break the week after next.

Thanks for being so patient!

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Eleven: Primal Instinct**

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Zick was incredulous—he was genuinely missing school, not just declaring it because he thought he was about to be killed for once. The neighborhood was often so quiet and empty it was as if he was the last man on Earth. Daytime consisted of Greta in the greenhouse and him watching celebrity talk shows, soap operas, and reruns of long-canceled series (_Who still watches _Diff'rent Strokes_?_) either alone or with the occasional monster. Now that he was going to earn a zero on it anyway, he did not bother to read "Song of Myself," or do any other homework he had been assigned before Monday morning. Elena was with her mother and siblings running errands, so calling her was not an option. When television became a torture device he surfed online before he found himself listlessly looking up whatever thought blossomed in his mind (even if it was gobblygook), plus his name twice. Masturbating in his locked room occupied time… Ten minutes of it. By then, boredom completely plagued his mind. Right after coming, he spread himself across the bed and closed his eyes.

His dreams were always weird, and this one was no exception. This one found him in sepia tone and a textbook silent movie scene. He saw himself at age twelve dressed in a cowboy movie bandit costume, running into the horizon with a sack of cash. Zick wanted to know what the hell his younger self was doing, but couldn't—he was tied to railroad tracks. The sun blinded him at first, so he did not realize at first why the hell he had long hair, a dress, and _breasts_. He did realize, however, what was going on. He opened his mouth to scream, but no audio came out. Crap—even in a dream he didn't want to get squashed by a train.

Suddenly, the sun was blocked. He could barely make out the obstruction's outline at first, but as it became clearer, he could see it was a flyvan driven by Teddy. From the ten-gallon hat to the spurred boots he was the quintessential American movie cowboy. He looked so rugged and dashing that it was only the fact a train was about to flatten him that prevented Zick from paying all of his attention to his savior-to-be.

Teddy hopped off and dashed towards the jeopardized "damsel." Zick "whimpered" as the train came closer. Soon after, however, the cowboy was at his feet. He squatted down and placed a palm just above the rope hugging Zick's sides. A blast of energy singed the knotted hemp so that he could just pull Zick off the tracks; once he was just barely off the tracks, the train flew past them. Hugging, the two smiled at each other, tilted their heads towards each other's faces and began to kiss.

Zick abruptly woke up for no reason other than to wake up. _What the… _he thought.

He looked at his clock. Four o' clock. "It's already four? Oh, wait, it's Friday… _Oh wait, it's Friday! _I'm supposed to be at Dad's in a while!" He jumped off his bed and rushed under there for his suitcase.

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When he arrived, it was, for once, not Zob that was the first to talk to him.

"Zob?" Terrence called from the living room. "Is that you?"

"No, it's Zick. Where's Dad?"

"Running some errand; he didn't really say what."

"And Teddy?"

"In your room," Teddy called.

He smiled. "I'm coming, Teddy!"

Zick turned the corner and opened the first door on the right. On the left side of the room was Teddy on his bed. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a padded, zippered vest, long pants, and brown hiking boots.

"Hey, Teddy… Are we going somewhere?"

"Yeah… but just the two of us. Dad hasn't allowed me out except the anger management and I _really _wanna just get out of here and be free."

"So we're having a date of sorts?"

Teddy shrugged. "I guess you can call it that… Say, do you have any idea where the universal dombox is?"

"I think… Why?"

"I thought that I'd let you choose where to go after we eat. I don't care _where_—just get me the hell out of here!"

Zick grinned. "Lift your legs; I think it's under my bed…"

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_Wow, it's been awhile since I've done this, _Zick thought after stopping his bike. _When _exactly _was _the last time? Definitely years—why, maybe it was shortly after the divorce; it just did not feel right afterwards, after having his hero's image tarnished like that.

"You're kidding me, right?" Teddy laughed nervously. "Right?"

"Nope. 'Remember this place!"

"Of course I do! Elena, you, and I were the first time we hunted for monsters together. I almost got eaten by a dark phantom and his dog _and _I was covered in fermented fouler gunk at the end of it."

"… I don't remember the last part."

"Of course, you don't! It was after I got home; I smelled like shit for days afterward…"

"… Oh. We can go somewhere else, then. I just thought, y'know, for nostalgic reasons…"

"No, no, it's fine; it's just—"

"If you're going to have a lot of bad memories, Teddy, I think we should go somewhere else."

"No, no—"

"Yes, yes, let's go." Zick grabbed his handlebars; "Come on; I know another place."

The field was a best-kept secret of sorts to the locals. The normally pale golden brush was darker in the dark blue gray backdrop. A low breeze blew it back and chilled the air to remind them autumn was near.

"You think you're ready, Zick?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. Not doing this is like torture for a tamer."

Teddy grinned. "You have read my mind," he said as he stepped into the brush. Zick stayed a step behind him before speed walking to catch up.

While they hiked through the straw, other creatures confirmed their presence, making obvious noises as they scurried from place to place. The tamers pursued them in the hope they were about to encounter monsters. All ended in failures; by the time the sky was a darker shade of blue and the field was almost completely explored, the boys interacted with squirrels, birds, rabbits, stray cats, mice, and a lone hedgehog.

"Dammit," Teddy said as they walked in downtown Old Mill, "you'd think we'd find _something _there, considering how busy it was!"

"Yeah…" Zick sighed. His stomach growled. "Can we just get something to eat and go back to the apartment?"

Teddy sighed himself. "S—" there was a racket that resembled a metallic garbage can falling to the ground in a back alley. "Come on, Zick, I'm not in the mood to deal with muggers right now."

He grasped Zick's wrist and started walking; Zick pulled away. "Teddy…" His lips curled into a smile. "I don't think it's muggers. I think that sound was made by a—"

"Monster?" His expression brightened.

Zick nodded. "And I'm not sneezing, so it should be a quick, safe, catch. Care for a little detour, Teddy?"

He cracked his knuckles. "You _know _it!"

Immediately after entering the alley the noise occurred in, Teddy regretted his decision. The orange glow of the light situated over the back of the store revealed a trash can on the ground, a lengthy string of trash pouring from it, and a fouler digging into it. Garbage spread as the fouler pushed aside some as it consumed more.

Zick emitted a guffaw. "'Looks like we're going to can a fouler tonight no matter what we're doing, Teddy!"

"Can we just go, please? _Please_ please?"

"Teddy, you wanted to can a monster, and we're going to can a fucking monster, even if it is a fouler!"

Teddy frowned, annoyed. "Okay, but if we do this, we're going to do it anally the next time we fuck. You get what you want, I get what I want. Deal?"

Zick winced; he definitely was not ready for anal yet. But he had waited for this for four years, so he reluctantly said, "Deal."

Teddy grinned and matched Zick's knee quaking. The younger tamer whispered, "I can't believe I'm about to do this," as he slowly removed the universal dombox from his backpack.

The main compartment's zipper was open, the dombox's cool handle was cupped by his fingers, he had not disturbed the monster yet… _Good, good_… He was still grasping it, he was raising it… _Stay, stay, good… Teddy, quit that whimpering! Okay, it's halfway out… Teddy, calm down—I've seen chickens more dangerous! Okay, almost, almost, it's slipping away from one last piece of junk… Out!_

Teddy was still whimpering, only increasing in volume and intensity. As he inspected the dombox, he asked, "What's the matter with you? It's just a single fouler!"

Teddy pointed a shaking finger in front of him. "You call that 'a single fouler?'"

Zick looked up and gaped. There was no longer one, but a party feasting on trash. One flipped over another can, while two others bit at each other over what appeared to be some rancid meat. He mentally counted the new population, which was difficult because many zipped in and out. "Um… I think… there's ten now. How did it get that big that fast?"

"They're the cockroaches of the monster world. For everyone you see, there's a hundred more." Teddy took a step backwards.

Zick grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare!"

The trash became less plentiful. The foulers grew more aggressive towards their share of the land of milk and honey. Teddy ducked to avoid a flung apple core and the two began to scatter as a garbage and monster fight intensified. Both were pelted multiple times and Zick was hit in the face with a pot of sneezing powder. His sinuses suffered the consequences virtually non-stop; it wasn't long before the foulers stopped fighting and scattered from the scene.

Zick attempted to remove his inhaler. "I-choo!-can't-choo!-STOP!-choo!"

"How much was in there?" Teddy picked up the universal dombox and placed it in Zick's backpack. He flung it over his shoulder.

His eyes were red, swollen, and watery. "Pretty much-choo!-full!" A loud sneeze followed. He groaned.

Teddy breathed in hard. "Come on, let's go home, Boo Boo Bear. Both of us look and smell like shit." He wrapped an arm just above Zick's elbow.

Zick kept sneezing and did his best to do so away from Teddy. With his other hand, Teddy dug into his pants pocket and removed a handkerchief. "Here."

Zick sneezed again. He grabbed it and sneezed into it again immediately afterwards. "Tha—choo!"

"No proble—"He froze. "There's more?"

A growl behind them responded. The monster's shadow covered them. "Teddy... Choo!- That's no foul-choo!"

Teddy tilted his head up. "Oh crap…" A blue eat everything bonz was right behind him. "Zick… we run at one… two… THREE!"

Both screamed as the hunters became the hunted. Four years of inactivity and outright terror caused them to forget that it was possible to stop the monster with a simple command before capturing it. The bonz roared as it trailed right behind them, striking trash cans lined along the alley. The tamers began to sputter before they heard another voice boom, "Leave them alone!"

The bonz froze against its will. The boys stopped as well to look at it. Zick suddenly remembered something—"Teddy, where's the-atchoo!-universal dombox?"

Teddy let go off Zick's arm and patted his pant pockets. He felt a bulge out of his right pocket and fished it out. "Here!" He shoved it to Zick. The other tamer grabbed it and aimed it at the monster. It opened and in a flash, the monster was engulfed by a wide beam of light that just as quickly re-entered the device. A voice spat out and illustrated the statistics:

"Species: eat everything bonz. Danger level: high. Status: canned."

"Phew!"

"Zick? Teddy? What are you two doing here?"

The two looked up. Zob was in front of them.

"Oh, hi, Dad… How did you know we were here?"

"I was just about to get into my car to go home when I heard you two screaming."

"Oh. Well then… Can you bring us home, then?"

Zob was holding his nose. "Definitely! You guys smell like you really need a shower! Come on, let's go…"

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Zick pulled back the yellowing shower curtain and turned on the faucet. After setting it to shower mode, he moved back and turned to the clothes hamper. Teddy was already completely naked and grabbing an extra towel under the sink.

"It's a good thing no one noticed us going into the bathroom," Teddy said. "Otherwise, I'd wonder what our dads would be thinking…"

Zick's pants dropped to the floor. "I'd think they'd be wondering whose fault it was before accusing our moms."

Teddy snorted. "Yeah, maybe…"

Zick dropped his boxers into the hamper and entered the shower. Teddy followed and entered behind him. Zick was washing himself with soap when Teddy's arms wrapped around his stomach. The older tamer's chin met the back of Zick's neck.

Zick groaned. "Not right now, Teddy—I've gotten dirty enough for one day."


	12. The Anal Retentive Zick

LM Simpson's tidbits: The alternative title was "Don't be so Anal!" I'm using this title because although it isn't exactly the real definition of "anal-retentive," they're both really bad puns and I like this one better.

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Twelve: The Anal-Retentive Zick**

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Zick woke up the next morning at seven. He removed his earplugs; the boy in the sleeping bag next to his bed was still sleeping. He smiled—Teddy looked pretty cute with bedhair. He stepped down, hoping the wooden floor would not creak. It did not. He tiptoed to the door, shot one last look at Teddy, and moved into the hall.

Zob was reading the morning paper, Terrence was preparing himself a cup of coffee, and Zick was eating borderline soggy cornflakes when Teddy entered the kitchen wearing his nightshirt and boxers.

"Morning, Teddy," Zick said in-between bites.

"Look who finally decided to get up, Zob!" Terrence said. He slammed the creamer back onto the counter and placed the coffee cup on his spot of the table. "How are you this morning?"

"Fine, I guess," he grumbled, still half-asleep. He sat beside Zick and reached for the cornflakes box on the other side of the table. "Can you get me a spoon and bowl, Dad?"

Terrence tossed a spoon from the drawer and a teal plastic bowl from the cupboard. Teddy grabbed them. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, son."

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay over at Zick's again tonight?"

Terrence turned to Zob. "Zob?"

"Yeah?" He stopped reading the paper.

"Do you mind if Teddy stays over one more night?"

"As long as they don't get into trouble, I don't see why."

Terrence nodded as if to confirm it if there were any remaining doubt.

"Fantastic," Teddy said before taking his first bite.

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After dinner, Zob sat on the recliner, pulled on the lever to lower the back, and watched a sports program. Teddy and Zick snuck into the bedroom and closed the door.

"What are we going to say if my dad hears us?" Zick asked, hopping onto his bed and kicking off his shoes.

"We're arm wrestling." Teddy said as he sat beside Zick.

"Arm wrestling? Do you moan while arm wrestling, Teddy?"

"Well it's possible!" he snapped back. "I'm sure there's even a fetish for it!"

"Eew!"

"Well, would you rather say we were having an arm wrestling contest or a masturbate-a-thon?"

"Arm wrestling!" Zick replied almost instantly.

"Alright, then…" Teddy pulled off his shoes and dropped them on the floor; they landed with a clatter. "Oh wait… I forgot something!" He jumped off the bed and dashed out the door.

Zick soon heard his father talk. The sportscaster's commentary on a football game boomed (_Isn't Dad worried about the neighbors complaining?_), so Zob's dialogue was muffled and barely comprehensible. Teddy appeared to talk as well.

Teddy returned. A bundle of packages outstretched his arms. He stepped toward the bed and dumped his goods across the top sheet: a package of vanilla wafer cookies, an unopened box of ear plugs, and a tube of water-based, generic-brand lubricant.

_Hmm… Did he buy those at the drugstore? _Zick thought as he had flashbacks about what happened after lunch. _The lube would probably explain why he didn't want me to go with him then…_

"So what was my dad saying?" Zick asked. "Was it about the lube?"

"No, it was to make sure we clean up after eating the cookies so you don't get ants. If he noticed the lube, he didn't mention it." He lifted the box tab, tore the plastic womb protecting the cookies, and began munching on three wafers as once. He forwarded the box towards Zick. "Want one?" he said with food still in his mouth.

"Maybe later."

Teddy grabbed another threesome before he closed it and placed it next to the radio. "So just why are you so afraid of anal sex, Zick?"

"I'm… Scared that it will hurt like hell for one thing."

"Of course it will hurt, Zick; you've never had it in the ass before. Don't worry, that's what lube is for—so it hurts less!" He shook the bottle. "I'll try to go easy on you, okay?" He placed a hand on Zick's knee.

"… You'll _really _go easy on me?"

Teddy nodded. "Promise. Just yelp if I'm really hurting you and I'll stop."

Zick smiled. He clasped Teddy's hand and rubbed it with his thumb. He scooted closer and kissed Teddy on the lips. The other tamer grinned and placed his other hand on Zick's shoulder.

"So what are we waiting for?" he whispered hungrily. "Let's take our clothes off now!"

He released his hand and moved both hands to the sides of Zick's shirt. Then, in a horizontal jerking movement, Zick's shirt became a large, blue rag with sleeves.

"Woah," Zick said as he removed it away from him. The air felt strange on his chest. He tugged at Teddy's shirt and pulled it up as Teddy raised his arms up to make it easier for him.

The mutual undressing sped up. Two pairs of belts, pants, briefs, and socks later, both were staring at each other's nude form. Teddy had the bottle of lube in his hand.

Teddy spoke first. "So… would you rather do this on the bed or on the floor?"

Zick looked at Teddy's erect package for only the second time ever. "Uh… I'd guess the floor."

Both slid to the ground. Zick took a deep breath and got on all fours. He stared at the bed in front of him. Teddy opened the container and applied the clear gel. His penis soon appeared slick and shiny in the ceiling light. He dropped on all fours as well and crawled behind Zick.

"Get ready, Boo Boo Bear…"

Zick suddenly felt a finger inside him. _Huh. Not bad at all. Maybe anal isn't going to be so bad after all. _But then Teddy inserted a second, then followed with a third. Zick winced until Teddy removed all three at once.

There were two points of pressure on his back. He drew in a sharp breath as Teddy's cock entered. Zick felt him hit something inside him. Teddy thrusted again, this time harder and accompanied with a grunt. Still nothing but some pain; he was not even completely erect yet. Teddy repeated once, twice, thrice more. Zick's prostate was beginning to get hard. Teddy emitted a slight moan; he was definitely getting there; his thrusting became harder and faster.

_Oh crap! Oh crap! _He was aroused, but not the point of coming. In fact, how the hell _was_ he supposed to reach orgasm—let Teddy do it all or what?

He attempted to flashback to his first handjob with Teddy to arouse himself even more, but couldn't then. By then, Teddy groaned and Zick could feel his cum inside him. His prostate was hard, but did not let him come as well.

Teddy dismounted and sat down; Zick sat as well. Teddy inhaled and exhaled deeply and turned to face Zick. "Hey… What's wrong?"

Zick was frowning and tilted his head down to avoid eye contact. "I didn't come. You stopped before I could. Everything hurts down there now."

Teddy's jaw dropped. "Oh my… Why didn't you tell me? I would have stopped."

"You were enjoying it. "

Teddy blushed. "I'm so sorry, Zick, really! It's okay with me if we just do handjobs, Oxford, any non-anal whatever until you're ready, okay?" He reached for Zick's still erect length and began massaging it. Zick said nothing, feeling embarrassed; he remained that way for the rest of the night.


	13. Naked Lunch

**Phase Two: Zick beside Teddy**

**Chapter Thirteen: Naked Lunch**

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Tuesday consisted of typical daytime boredom. Zick spent his time in his bedroom, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts flashed back to Saturday night.

_How embarrassing! _He thought. _Teddy had to perform a hand job because I couldn't come myself. What a dope I am! I should've done something more arousing earlier!_

He got up. "I need to try again. I can't disappoint Teddy again."

He zoomed out of his room and zipped down the stairs. _Teddy has got to be at his house. I'm amazed Terrence even allowed him to stay over on Saturday!_

"Mom, I'll be at Teddy's place!" he called at the foyer.

"Don't stay too long!" she called from the den. "And stay out of trouble!"

The door shut. Soon after his departure, Greta saw her son cycling past the window and down the street.

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Both Thaurs focused on the television. Beyond the fuzzy picture was Jerry Springer giving his final thought after an hour of cheating husbands, wives, friends, and he-she prostitutes. Halfway through the segment, someone knocked on the door. The pounding was fast, requiring immediate entry.

"Teddy, can you get that real quickly."

He groaned. "Fine, but if I miss more than ten minutes of _Cheaters _you have to tell me _everything,_" he said as he got off the couch and to the door.

The visitor knocked again. "I'm coming!" Teddy called. He cracked the door open. "It's Zick, Dad!"

"Well, let him in!" Terrence said.

Teddy flapped his index finger back and forward towards himself to signal "Come in." Zick stepped in. During the brief walk to the living room, he turned towards the Thaurs's kitchen. The site brought back his first awkward kiss—good thing Teddy was getting better at smooching.

"Good afternoon, Zick!" Terrence greeted as he got off the couch. "How are you?"

"Bored. I decided I need to socialize more," he replied. Teddy sat down on the right side of the couch and pointed to Zick that he should sit down on the left.

"Okay then… be right back," Terrence said before leaving for the kitchen.

Zick sat down. "Hi, Teddy."

Teddy whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you face to face."

"Why couldn't you call me?" Teddy asked as he watched the screen.

"I want to try again."

"Try again? As in… _that _try again?"

"Yep." He also nodded.

Teddy turned to Zick. His body language revealed his awkwardness. "…_Now?_"

"Well, not now now. I was thinking more like in a little while if not later tonight."

"But you—"

"—I know, I know. But I want to try again. Maybe it's going to be better this time."

Terrence entered with a chair and a single serving bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. As he placed the chair juxtaposed to Zick's armrest, Teddy said, "Okay, later… But_ only_ after I find out which whores will finally find their baby daddies."

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"…Until next time, America!"

As the final trash television show's credits rolled, Teddy jumped off the couch. "Oh, Daaaaddddd… Can you make burgers for dinner? Y'know, for you, Zick, and me?"

"Can we have fries too?" Zick added after catching on to Teddy's scheme.

"But Teddy, you know I'm not exactly a five-star chef!"

"_Please,_ Daddy? I _really _want a burger and Zick is a guest; we _must _provide him a food offering!" He raised Zick's shirt. Pointing, he continued, "See? He's skinny as a rail!"

"Okay, okay! I'll go get some at the burger joint just down the street! Just let me get my wallet!"

"Thank you, Father," Teddy said.

"I like mine without tomatoes, Terrence!" Zick specified as Terrence opened the door.

"No tomatoes, got it," he muttered before departing.

The duo snickered. Zick said, "That was so easy!"

"Of course! Dad is really manipulative! Now that I'm living with him, he definitely doesn't want to lose me."

"Come on, let's make this quick," Teddy continued, "The prep time's longer than the kind at real fast food joints, but that doesn't mean he'll be there forever!"

Zick got up and followed him. The apartment was organized similar to his own. Teddy made a detour to the cramped bathroom to grab a half-empty bottle of lube, and then continued to next door. He opened his bedroom door and yanked Zick inside by his collar, causing Zick to almost skid and trip to the floor.

While Teddy slammed the door, Zick said, "What was _that _for?!"

"No time!" he answered. He clasped Zick to his chest and gave him a smooch on the cheek. His moist kisses trailed down Zick's cheek, then lips, then down and all over his neck. Simultaneously, he lightly pushed Zick back and moved a hand to his crotch.

Zick moaned and reached for Teddy's zipper. He pulled it down, and then rubbed his fingers over Teddy's underwear; the older tamer grew larger almost instantaneously.

Teddy moved forward and pushed Zick to the floor. Squatting to his knees, he unzipped and drug off Zick's pants; he threw the pair behind him and then did the same with his boxers. Zick was partially erect, so he fiddled with it as its owner vocally approved and he attempted to shed his own clothing with one hand.

After bringing his pants to his knees, he slapped some lube on and hand signaled Zick to get on his knees. Teddy scooted behind him. He rubbed a hand over Zick's behind before inserting two fingers at once.

Zick shook with excitement as he waited for the big moment. He let out a small yelp when Teddy first entered, but that the pain quickly vanished. Teddy repeatedly struck hard and fast and his hips alternately, rhythmically rocked against his recipient. To his delight, Zick found himself fighting premature orgasm. He concentrated on his dick and groaned. _Oh, so close!_

"Teddy…" he moaned when he felt closer than ever. Teddy's loud noises indicated to him that he was close as well, but he kept thrusting. Zick's prostate was constricting like he was squeezing all the muscles in his body, only in one area. When he ached for release, Zick brushed his penis with a hand. Almost immediately, his prostate and his penis vibrated violently and steadily. He emitted a loud moan; Teddy did the same and collapsed on top of him without exiting.

As both breathed heavily, Zick turned his head to get a slight glimpse at Teddy. His eye caught a glimpse of something at the door as he moved, so he shifted to the scene.

Terrence was at the ajar door, gaping. A greasy brown bag with three fries partially or completely out of it laid on the floor.

"I… heard noises…" he said as he picked up the bag and walked backwards to the door.

"Terrence! Please don't tell my parents, Terrence!" Zick cried as he grabbed his boxers.

"Zick, get out!" Teddy said, "Don't say a thing—just _run. _I'll try to explain everything. I'll talk to you at anger management, okay?"

He pulled his pants up. "Okay... I love you!"

"I love you too, Boo Boo Bear! …We run at three, two, one…"

They dashed out. Teddy stopped at the living room. Zick ran down the hall to the stairs and bawled, thinking _This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't be happening! …_


	14. Anger Management

LM Simpson's tidbits: Late chapter is late chapter. (How late? I wrote it during Spring Break, which was like the first week of this month.) Sorry. Having too much school work nowadays sucks too, but that's for a forum or journal entry.

Oh yeah—it's also "Dark Side of the Moon's " first birthday. Be sure to visit it to say hello!

Enjoy!

**Phase Three: Zick besides Two**

**Chapter Fourteen: Anger Management**

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"What happened last night, Zick?" Greta asked the next afternoon as she drove her son to the community center. "You were really in shambles when you got home."

Zick, who was in the seat next to her, stared at the window. "I… fell off the bike and almost got run over," he lied. "I, uh, crashed into a stop sign."

She sighed. "If you're going to be biking all over town, please wear a helmet, Zick. I know that if you're sixteen or older you don't need to wear one by law, but the last thing I need right now is a call from the morgue asking me to identify a body!"

"Don't worry, Mom. I will."

Greta stopped the car in front of the Old Mill Community Center. She flashed a weak smile. "I'll pick you up in an hour."

"'Kay. Love you, Mom." He unbuckled, gave her a peck on the cheek, exited, and walked up the stairs to the building.

The adolescent anger management group met in the left hall, almost directly across from the pool and locker rooms. As a handful of more authentic juvenile delinquents attempted to cram, push, or pull each other into the single-body width door, Zick noticed another figure standing against the wall. He was also observing the site.

"Teddy!" he cried. He dashed towards him. Teddy did not smile, signal for a hug and kiss, nor express other demonstrations of love or joy. He did not appear apathetic, but disappointed.

Zick stopped in front of him. He whispered, "What happened when I left yesterday?"

He sighed. "He lost it—'just can't believe his own son is gay. He also thinks it would probably have been better if I stayed with my mom instead. Even after I told him that I was gay when it was just Mom and me all those years, he _still _thinks that.

"What did he say about me?"

Teddy fought a choke. "He thought that I forced myself on you."

Zick gasped. His voice was closer to normal decibel levels. "_What?_ But I consented!"

"Shh!" Teddy sniffled. "I told him that. I had to also convince him not to tell that to anyone else. I'm not exactly ready to come out in public yet, let alone to him, so the whole time was a complete nightmare.

"I'm so sorry it led to this…"

"… Led to what?" Zick said.

"Zick, I love you to death. Always have since I met you. I'm _not _breaking up with you, but I think that we need to take a break for just a week to let all this weather. Get what I'm saying? Maybe a few years down the road when we're together we can joke about it or something, but not now."

Zick frowned. "I… understand."

"Good. I'm so sorry this had to happen." Teddy hugged him. "We'll talk next Saturday."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too, Boo Boo Bear."

Teddy let go, then walked into the room. Zick remained in the hall to combat tears. His sleeve was becoming damp when he entered and discovered the seat to the left of Elena was unoccupied.

"Hey, Zick," Elena said as he sat down; he turned his face away from her. "What's wrong, Zick?"

He ignored her as the group's leader, a balding, overweight man, closed the door. "Good afternoon, everyone!" he said in an overly happy voice. "How are you all today?"

The class of twelve forcefully arranged in a circle collectively grumbled.

"What was that, guys? I couldn't _hear_ you!"

"GOOD!" Everyone except Zick yelled.

"Excellent!" The leader in the group noticed Zick's dour expression and pointed, "You, with the blue hair, how about you start our heart-to-heart?"

He groaned, and stood up. Half-heartedly, he said, "Hi. I'm Zick." He weakly waved to emphasize his existence.

"Hi, Zick," the equally unenthusiastic peers responded.

"I don't really want to talk; it's private stuff."

"But Zick," the leader said, "if you battle your emotions, it can result in a spontaneous and violent explosion of anger!" He raised his arms from the middle of his chest to the air to illustrate an explosion.

"But I'm _not _bottling up. I just don't want to talk about it with a bunch of people I don't know!"

"But that's the beauty of anonymity! They won't judge you by your reputation!"

"Are you kidding me? Haven't you ever heard of 'first impressions' dumbass?" He clenched his fists.

"See? See? You just called me a dumbass because you are not letting it all out. Repression is just as bad as depression, everyone!"

"No, I'm _not!_ It's embarrassing and I don't want it out to the world," he screamed, "NOW LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!"

"Gladly. Now shut your trap before I kick you out and have you transferred to alternative school."

_Gladly, _he thought as his fists relaxed.

14141414

"Man, Zick!" Elena said in her room an hour after the meeting. "What happened to make you that angry? You were literally red in the face!"

_I can't tell her everything, but… _"Well, uh, what would you do if you were accused of being gay?"

"You were accused of being gay? By who?"

"I don't… want to tell—Yet."

"Why would they do that to you?"

"My dad."

"Oh…" she hugged him; he was instantly reminded of Teddy whenever he attempted to comfort him. He felt warmth. "Those guys are jackasses that don't the friend they're missing out on…"

He smiled. "Thanks, Elena.

"Say, uh… I don't really have anything to do all day. Can I come over again tomorrow?"

"Sure, why not? Even with hyperactive preschoolers in the house it gets really boring here sometimes."

"Awesome."


	15. Get Reacquainted

LM Simpson's tidbits: I can't believe this is already at fifteen chapters; considering the average word count and the chapter count already, this is already my longest novelette ever.

I've finished an outline of the final chapters, and I estimated that from my current plans, I have five chapters to go (including this one). Who knows though, I could break apart chapters, add more than I originally planned, or even write a sequel for all I know.

**Phase Three: Zick besides Two**

**Chapter Fifteen: Get Re-acquainted **

15151515

For the first non-Anger Management related time since their school suspension, Zick and Elena walked beside each other. It was sunny and cool as they walked along downtown Oldmill's local shops. Both had hands in their coat pockets and were silent, and it made Zick uncomfortable. One friend was physically cutting him off, and the other was silently cutting him off. It was like as if his previous scenario with Teddy and Elena had reversed roles and changed intent. He even thought that:

_This is ridiculous! I thought Elena wanted to become friends with me again! At this rate, it isn't going to happen!_

If Elena was not going to start the conversation, it would have to be him. As they passed an antique store, he began to especially hesitate to speak. He did not want to sound like an idiot (Elena would probably accept him regardless, but he did not want his words to sound silly), so he contemplated his word choice.

They were in front of a book store when Zick stuttered "So, uh… Uh…"

Elena stopped and faced him. She smiled. "Go on…"

_Dammit! I don't even think I was this bad when I first met her! So much for planning out how to break the ice, Zick! _ "Um… So how have you been doing?"

"Nothing much. The twins are doing fine in preschool. Mom is thinking of getting an in-home job. Dad got promoted…"

Zick gasped. "Are you—"

"Oh no, no, no, not anytime soon. My parents said they would probably move after I graduated, though."

"Oh, okay… Good. Oh, and congrats to your dad. Anything else?"

She shook her head. "I don't leave the house that often. So how about you? How have you been doing?"

"Nothing much, either. Mostly I'm at my dad's. Teddy and I hunted for monsters one day, but we didn't catch anything."

"Uh-huh… What else has happened?"

Zick scrambled for an excuse; that wasn't the only thing that happened. _Okay, sex is definitely out of the question… What should I say, what should I say? What was the excuse Teddy thought up again? Masturbate-a-thon? Oh, no, that's _definitely _not it! Grr, WHAT WAS IT? Oh! _Now_ I remember…_

"…Arm wrestling."

Elena cocked an eyebrow. "Arm wrestling. Of all things, you're arm wrestling."

He scratched the hairline just above his forehead. "Um, yeah. There's a tournament in Bigburg that's coming up in uh, October. The winning team gets, like, twenty thousand dollars."

"Sweet! Can I join your team?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no, it's duos only. The rules say that anyone with three or more people actively on the team is automatically disqualified."

Elena cocked her head down. "Okay…" She then cocked her head back up. "… But you said _actively _on the team. That means alternatives are acceptable, right?" She pointed her thumb towards her. "If they do, call me! My handle will be Killer Gazelle!" She beamed.

_Ah, dammit… _"Okay, I'll e-mail you later when I find out.

"So… What do you want to do?"

"Do you want to visit your mom?" Elena asked.

"But Elena, she's my mom." Zick said. "I always see her. So do you. How about going to get milkshakes?"

"But I regularly talk to her! Zick, she's really lonely when you're at your dad's or 'home alone.' Let's surprise her. That should brighten her day. "

He smiled. _She's turning back into the Elena I know! _"Okay, you win. Let's go."

Greta's flower shop was down the street. Zick attempted to block flashbacks of what happened around the area the week before. He kept thinking about Teddy, like what he was doing, how he was feeling, if he was missing him… And that was not good. He _knew_ these were going to destroy him through the Saturday after next if he did not, so he turned his attention to the entrance.

He slapped himself on the cheek before opening the door; the chime of a bell alerted the presence of a visitor. Moving out of the way and still holding the door, he said, "Here, ladies first."

Elena retained her smile. "Why, thank you, Zick!" She said as she entered. Then, in her most Southern drawl, she continued, "Why, ah didden kno' yew were a gentleman!"

Zick chuckled and said in the same accent, "Well, yew dunno everythin' 'bout meh, Elena!" He then followed her inside.

"Sorry, we're closed!" They could hear Greta call.

"She must be in the back," Elena said.

Sure enough, they found Greta in an office at the shop's back, counting all of the revenue the day produced before taxes. When she heard the door squeak open, she paused and looked up to notice the teenagers standing by another.

"Why, good afternoon, Ms. Barrymore!"

"Hey, Mom!"

"Good afternoon, Elena and Zick!" A handful of monetary bills plopped out of her hand and onto the desk. She placed the adding machine under it. "What are you two doing here?"

"We were around and decided we wanted to say hi," Elena replied.

"Well, I needed that, that's for sure," Greta said. "This shop has been barely surviving. Not even wedding season helps a lot."

"Don't worry, it'll come soon! Oh! Do you know if Zick is going to be busy tomorrow?"

Greta turned to her son. "Zick?"

He shook his head. "I just have to get to Dad's later that day, that's all. Why?"

"My entire family is going to the zoo later. My parents said that I can take a friend with me. Wanna come, Zick?"

"Um…" _Going to the zoo can't be bad, _he contemplated. _I don't think anything is going to remind me of Teddy since I've never been there… And it isn't close to Dad's…_

"Can I go, Mom?"

"As long as you get to your father's in time."

Zick nodded. Elena beamed and clapped. "Oh, you'll never forget this as you live!"

He would not indeed.


	16. Gorilla Nests

**LM Simpson's tidbits: "**Lunar Eclipse" is now at novelette length. I'm proud of myself.

**Part Three: Zick besides Two**

**Chapter Sixteen: Gorilla Nests**

16161616

"So why are you all going to the zoo today?" Zick asked the next morning. Mister Potato was behind the wheel, Missus Potato sat shotgun, the twins sat in booster seats in the middle of the van, and Elena and him sat in the back's corner seats.

"It's a celebration at the store," Mister Potato replied. "Twentieth anniversary. So today is family fun day at the zoo for all of its employees."

"Last year was at the park," his wife said. "Who knew there could be so many bugs out in the middle of September?"

"Don't forget that there was also a really bad heatwave last year, Mom." Elena leaned forward.

As the Potatoes continued conversing about last year's picnic, Zick stared outside. Leaves were withering into brown and warm colors and the sky was cast light gray. Every other lightpost bore a yellow and blue banner hanging from the top; above a picture of a baby gorilla was "Bigburg Zoo," written in blue capital letters.

_We must be near it…_

Missus Potato said, "Have you ever been to the zoo before, Zick?"

"Huh?" He shook his head. "Oh no, never. But I see commercials for it from time to time."

"Then have you heard about the baby gorilla there?"

_That explains the banners… _"Why, uh, yes I have."

The welcome sign followed the blue and yellow scheme as the car entered the tree-lined parking lot. Even at nine AM automobiles clogged it. Mister Potato drove around to find a spot until he finally parked in the front, in-between a blue convertible and the employee of the month's white pickup.

"Okay, everyone out!" The patriarch said. Elena and Zick unbuckled but waited for the younger members to exit. They climbed over the right middle seat (Elena followed Zick) and followed the party to the admission line.

Ten minutes later, Zick found himself staring at his ticket. The rectangular paper proof of purchase had a miniature copy of the lightpost banners on the front. He was more intrigued by the back—a coupon for three dollars of a dish at the Silver Dragon Chinese restaurant. Scanning it, he became discouraged by it being a little too far for him to consider getting a takeout meal from, not to mention that the offer itself expired in July.

As he shook his head, Elena called: "ZICK! You're holding up the line! Get over here!"

Zick looked up. He saw her across the entrance, waiting by a sign post. He turned around just in time to see a little blond-haired boy in brown clothing and sandals kick him at the ankle. He grunted, and then dashed to the sign post.

"Where's everyone else?" He said as he rubbed his ankle.

"They're going to the kids's area. Mom thinks that we're old enough to get around without doing something stupid, so it's going to be just the two of us until lunchtime."

"Oh. Okay, then."

Elena removed a square sheet of paper from her jeans pocket. She unfolded it and revealed it was a map of the zoo. "So where do you want to go to first?"

He analyzed the map. "There's monkeys in the Americas?"

"I guess. Wanna go there?"

Zick shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

The North, Central, and South American section was located past the entrance gift shop and to the left of the first restroom and overpriced candy vending machine. Trees provided shelter for the various animals, from a jaguar behind glass windows, a prairie dog company popping out of dirt holes like whack-a-moles, two sloths lounging upside-down in two branches, and howler monkeys doing what they did best.

The duo covered their ears before they left the howler monkey display. Next door was a tall, isolated tree with ropes attached to branches and a place resembling a shed.

"What's that?" Zick asked.

Elena read the map. "More monkeys—it's the golden lion tamarin display."

"Well, if they're not loud like the howler monkeys…"

Behind the glass front was a giant branch, more rope hanging from the ceiling, and a half dozen tiny monkeys. The strawberry blond haired primates met their giant brown eyes with Elena's. She stepped back; their petite hands met the glass.

Zick chuckled. "I guess they think that you're one of them. I think it's the hair."

She shifted closer to him. As they followed, she said, "You think? Let's get out of here."

"Do you want to see the orangutans?"

"Nah—they remind me too much of my Uncle Ronnie."

"Can I borrow the map for a second?"

Elena handed him it. He scanned the map before asking, "They have pandas here?"

"Well, red pandas."

"What are those?"

"I dunno. They weren't on display the last time I was at the zoo."

"Then let's check them out!"

Zick expected the creatures to be just like giant pandas, only with red patches instead of black. He was wrong—the animal in the tree better resembled a red and white furred cat and raccoon hybrid.

"Oh, it's so cute!" Elena pretended to pet it with her index finger. "Isn't it adorable, Zick?"

Yeah, but…" The red panda jumped to another branch.

"But what?"

"I want to see the Bengal tigers before lunch," he said.

"Zick, I'm not trying to sound offensive when I say this, but what is it with you and red furred animals today? I thought guys preferred blondes!"

Teddy flashed in his mind. He fought it off mentally to prevent any awkward body language. "Nothing; I just wanted to see some damned tigers!"

"Okay, okay… Come on, everyone's leaving towards the African section. Maybe the baby gorilla's out."

The exhibit consisted of an open, grassy field with trees sporadically appearing. There were five gorillas, including four adults, outside near the tall brown wooded fence that prevented them from escaping. One adult was a male, three adults were females, and the remaining primate was a petite baby cradled by one of the females.

"And that's our most recently bundle of joy, Richie Baby," the female keeper said via microphone. "He's eight months old and is five-year-old Kala's first child.

"In the wild, mother and child would sleep in gorilla nests made out of leaves and other materials. Here, however, they sleep in air-conditioned and heated rooms off-display; I'm sure they are very comfortable! If you would like any more information about our gorillas, please come see me."

Zick leaned over the fence to get a closer look. Kala kept dragging Richie Baby as he attempted to creep away from her. He finally broke away and beat his chest with an arm as his mother gave chase.

He chuckled before hearing the human equivalent behind him. He turned his head to witness a woman chase after the boy that kicked him earlier.

"Teddy, you wild child, get back here," she screamed as he attempted to climb a tall wooden pole.

Zick froze. _I wouldn't be surprised if he was like that when he was really small…_

Elena turned. "Richie is so much like a human child, don't you think Z—Zick? Are you okay?"

Zick rubbed his eyes. "No, I got gnats in both of my eyes, that's all."

"Do you need a mirror?" she searched her pocket for one.

"Yeah; I'll just be in the bathroom for a minute…" he said before leaving the area.

16161616

The Potatoes and Zick arrived at Elena's home at two in the afternoon.

Elena and Zick zipped to her room. She closed the door and stared at the boy sitting on her bed. Zick's eyes were still misty and red.

"Why are you crying, Zick?"

He rubbed his left eye. "I'm not crying."

"Zick, you've been crying since we saw the gorillas. Now what's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"You're crying for a reason, Zick! Did you see anyone that called you gay?"

_No. _"Yes."

"Well, you're not gay, right?"

_No. _"Yes. It's stuff like that that makes me feel unloved."

She stepped in front of him and hugged him; heat radiated from her face. "I love you."

"… R-really?"

"Yeah, for a long time," she whispered. Her cheek rubbed against him. "You're not perfect, but no one is. You're perfect the way you are."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She stopped rubbing. "Do you love me?"

"Yes…" _…As a friend. So why is my heart beating like as if I'm with Teddy?_

She smiled. "That's wonderful, Zick," She kissed him on the left cheek, then the right, then on the lips. It was just like Teddy was kissing him; he kissed her back.

_You shouldn't be doing this, Zick, _he thought. _Oh, why does it have to feel so damn nice?_

He embraced Elena; she rubbed her body against his chest.

_Quit it, quit it! Just because she's offering it to you doesn't mean you should take it, you, you, you—_

Elena broke from their bond and then pushed him so that his back was on the bed. She kicked off her shoes then pulled off his.

"Oh, please take me," she whispered before kissing him again.

He grabbed her shirt and his senses blurred. He felt himself getting colder, then warmer, especially when she touched him. He sampled flesh, especially on the chest. He heard Elena cry out when he was first inside her, then when she finally came. He lay atop of her after he came and saw her chest rise up and down and sweat all over her body. He could definitely smell the sweat as well.

She groaned. "Damn, I didn't know you were that good for a virgin, Zick," she said before corralling him against her with an arm before slowing falling asleep.

Zick was tired, but instead thought. _Virgin? I'm not a virgin… Am I? _He began to feel extremely guilty; the last thing he thought he would do that day was fuck his first friend ever. He raised an arm and slid out of bed.

_Oh no… I didn't even use any protection. It's not like I was fucking another guy… Oh, I really hope I won't get her pregnant…_

He grabbed his clothes among the pile they left on the floor and dressed. He opened the door and observed Elena slumbering before sneaking out and softly reclosing it.

16161616

Neither Zob nor Terrence was at the apartment when he arrived. It was still bright enough to see where he was going, so he left the lights off and entered the kitchen. He noticed a letter attached to the refrigerator with a magnet. It read:

_Going to drug store- will be back soon. _

_Dad. _

He sighed and sat in a chair at the table. He scratched this head when the phone rang; he yanked it off the receiver. "Hello?"

"Zick?"

His eyes widened. "Teddy?"

"Yeah? Are you alone?"

"Yeah."

"How are you? I miss you, you know."

He sniffed. "I miss you too."

"I know, Boo Boo Bear. It feels like it's taking forever even though it's only been a couple of days. Just hold on."

His eyes were moist again. "I'll try."

"Good. I have faith in you."

Zick shuddered before he heard the front door open. "I got to go. Bye."

"Bye."

He hung up and began to rub his eyes again as Zob entered the kitchen with four white plastic bags.


	17. Daddy Problems

LM Simpson's tidbits: So sorry for the late update!

**Phase Three: Zick besides Two **

**Chapter Seventeen: Daddy Problems**

17171717

"So where's Terrence?"

Zick and Zob sat at opposite ends of the kitchen table. The overhead light was on—it was dark outside. They were eating microwaved TV dinners still in their black plastic trays. Zick drank from a plastic bottle containing root beer, while Zob drank from a can of beer.

Zob took a swig. He frowned. "He's not coming this week."

"Why not?" Zick leaned forward.

"He's been avoiding me all week. I see him outside and when I wave, he just looks at me with this 'deer-in-the-headlights' look before disappearing. I can't connect with his home or cell phones. I sent him an e-mail that he never responded to two days ago.

"I knocked on his door yesterday. Teddy opened it, and then slammed it in my face. Do you think he's hiding something from me?"

"Uh…" Zick's stomach flipped. "I don't know. Maybe." He replied before placing his fork in the middle of his tray. As he got up, his father leaned over to distance the half-eaten food.

"Are you alright, Zick?"

He turned and placed a hand on his stomach. Sounding awkwardly relaxed, he said: "Uh, yeah. It's just that I'm not really hungry for Salisbury steak and beans right now. I'll just reheat them on a plate later."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be in my room if you need me, Dad."

Zick shut the door upon entering. Leaning against it, he thought: _Dammit! Am I going to destroy dad's relationship as well as mine with Teddy and Elena? If my gut instinct's right, Terrence is scared about telling Dad Teddy sodomized me!_

He reached in his pocket for his cell phone._ I just have to know…_

He found the Thaurs's home number in his address book and pressed "talk." A recorded voice immediately said:

"I'm sorry. The number you have just called is not available right now. Please try again."

Zick pressed "end," then redialed. It was the same result. He tossed the cell phone onto his bed, tossed himself onto the bed, and buried his head with a pillow before screeching in frustration. He then laid stagnant on the bed and attempted to ignore the rectangular lump on his stomach.

_Why does Terrence have to be such an ass in this type of things?_

17171717

Saturday morning was uneventful. It consisted of sleeping in and munching corn flakes by the handful on the living room couch. Zick found his weekend so blissfully calm that he still wore a nightshirt and boxers when he lazily shifted his gaze from the television to the clock on the table between the couch and the recliner. The red digital numbers made out 12:51.

He choked. The cereal box fell to the floor as he jumped off the couch.

"Dad!" He called to the man in the kitchen. "We're going to be late to anger management class! I don't want to go to alternative school!"

"Are you ready to go?"

"Not yet!" Zick was in his bedroom. His nightclothes were tossed behind his shoulders. He frantically grabbed a new set of dayclothes, got dressed, and ran out of the room.

Zob had only opened the door when Zick flew out, grabbing the key ring in his father's hand in the process.

"I'll start the car!"

Zob sighed, turned the light off, and then attempted to catch up with his son.

17171717

The latest class was in session when Zick arrived. The door was locked, so he knocked. The counselor opened the door and gave a "come in" hand gesture.

"You're ten minutes late," he stated.

"I know. My dad and I had a little car trouble."

"Then I would suggest your father see a mechanic after this. Now quickly find yourself a seat, please."

"Yes, sir."

Elena was sandwiched between the boy that destroyed his school's art room in a rage and the girl nicknamed for the number of fist fights she had participated in. Teddy sat near a gay basher and someone who was eternally pissed. There was a single unoccupied spot in the circle. Zick ignored the principal nose breaker and the principal car breaker as he completed the arrangement.

Zick also ignored the entire meeting, except when he had to tell his own woe-is-me-of-the-week tale. As he sat with his hands pressed against his cheeks and his elbows on his knees, he tuned out the Thaur across from him and pondered.

_I have to do something after this session. If Teddy and Terrence are going to cut off my dad, then they're going to do the same to me. But how can I avoid that?_

Towards the end of the meeting, a plot developed. _It's stupid, but I guess it could work… _

"My, what a productive meeting we had! I'll see you all next Wednesday. Until then, have a good weekend!"

Zick dashed out of the room before everyone else rose from their chairs. The counselor said:

"Is it really _that _much of a hellhole to be here, kids?"

17171717

"I'll be right back, Dad!" Zick said as he twisted the doorknob.

"Where are you going?" Zob asked as he relaxed in his recliner.

"Uh, the drugstore, to get a soda." He opened the door and entered the hallway.

"Be careful while crossing the street, Zick!" He heard his father say as he shut the door and began walking.

_The drugstore isn't that far away… If he asks about the soda, I'll just say that I drank it all or something, _He thought as he stood in front of Teddy's apartment door. _What was that thing I thought over for this? Oh, right!..._

He rubbed his neck and cleared his throat. He then knocked on the door.

"Help! Help!" He said in his best lil' ol' lady voice. "Can you help me, you two fine lads? My husband is injured and our phone is out!"

He waited for a reply that never came. Zick banged on the door. "Will you please help me?"

He heard a response, but not the kind he desired.

"Zick," Terrence responded through the other side, "I know it's you. Cut that out. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Uh… Is Teddy inside?"

"No, he's at the drugstore getting a soda."

Zick bit his lip. "Well, I… need to talk to you… about what happened last week… with Teddy and me…"

Silence.

"Terrence?"

"Do you _really _want to talk about this now? I don't want to talk about it any further with Teddy. As for your dad…"

"I'd rather tell my side of the story with my dad and you. I know what it's like to have secrets kept from me. I don't blame my dad for being frustrated about you zipping your lips. It's going to have to come out eventually, Terrence—Dad has to know sooner or later."

"…When do you want me to come over?"

17171717

Later that night, Zick brought in a two box high stack of pizzas into the living room. Zob and Terrence sat on the couch while watching an old black-and-white western. Zick placed the boxes on the coffee table between the TV and the couch, right next to three paper plates.

"You tipped the delivery boy, right?" Zob asked. He moved to get out of the way so that he could view the screen his son's body blocked.

"Yeah, five bucks." He flipped open one box to reveal a thick crusted, sausage and onion pizza. He grabbed and tore off two slices and then plopped them onto the closest plate. He sat on the recliner and chewed off the tip of one slice as the men retrieved their own pieces of the pie.

Zob chomped close to half of one slice in one bite. After swallowing, he turned to his left. "So why have you been avoiding me, Terrence?"

Terrence stared at the greasy plate on his lap. "Uh… I'd rather not say."

"But you're here, Terrence. What are you over for then?"

The other man winced. Zick thought, with great certainty: _He's not going to talk…_

Zob grew frustrated. "Terrence…"

"Terrence, how about _I _tell Dad about what happened and you go home with some pizza for Teddy?"

"That would be great! See you later, Zob!" Terrence jumped up, plate in hand. He slid the unopened box under the open one towards him. His subsequent disappearance was accompanied by the closing front door.

Zob slowly put down his slice and stared at his son. "You know why he's been doing this, son?"

Zick scratched the back of his head. "Uh, yeah. It's about… me."

"He caught you doing something?"

Zick nodded.

"Was it… drugs?"

Zick shook his head.

"You're in a gang? You better not be in a gang, Zick!"

"Oh, definitely not!"

"What about having sex?"

Zick's head drooped.

"He caught you having sex?! With who? Where?"

The teenager was sweating. His mind dueled with his conscience. One side begged, _Tell him the truth for once! It will hurt, but your dad will understand! _The other screamed, _Lie! You love Teddy, right? Do you want to hurt Teddy more? Save his and your asses! _

_Truth!_

_Lies!_

_TRUTH!_

_LIES!_

"Zick! Who and where?"

"Uh, uh, uh… Elena. In _my _bedroom."

"Did you use a condom or something?"

He dribbled his thumbs against his thighs. "It was… so sudden, I—we, didn't--"

Zob slammed his plate onto the table and stood up. "Get up! Now!"

Zick obeyed immediately. He did not say a single word.

"Do you have money in your wallet?"

"Yeah…"

"Zick, you are suspended for fighting, your grades are in the toilet, and now you're having unprotected sex? The last thing you need to further screw up your life is a child you can't take care of!"

"I know, I know! It was a very dumb thing to do!"

Zob pointed to the door. "_You_ are going to the drugstore and _not _returning until you show me that you have bought some protection! _Now!_"

Zick was out immediately. After he left the complex, he crossed the calm, dark street, and walked two blocks south. The drug store was on the street corner; he entered through the two-door automatic entrance and was met by air conditioning, muzak fleeing from intercoms, and fluorescent lighting. He scanned the tops of the aisles to find any advertising "family planning," or anything along those lines. Sure enough, aisle five contained "dental needs," "feminine needs," and "family planning." After he made sure that no one else was in the aisle, he sneaked inside towards the condoms. He urgently read the prices and picked up a generic drugstore brand when he sensed that someone was behind him.

He squeaked after he turned. "Teddy? What are you doing here?"

"I was going to buy a six-pack of soda to go with that pizza my dad brought home. I was just looking down the aisles as I was going towards the soda section, and guess who I find?"

He pointed towards the package in Zick's hand. "Why are you holding that?"

Zick was red all over as he stared at his boyfriend. "My dad told me to buy them."

"Why?"

"He asked me if I was having sex, and I said with Elena. He got pissed at me and told me to get some condoms so I don't knock her up."

"So…you're only buying condoms to save your and my asses?"

"Yeah… "

"And you really aren't having sex with Elena, right?"

Zick shook his head urgently. "No, no…"

"Good. Otherwise I'd be really pissed at you." Teddy leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "See you later, Zick!" He said before leaving the aisle.

Zick stood and rubbed the cheek with his free hand for a moment. He felt a pang in his heart before he relocated to the checkout counter. The clerk did not talk except to inform Zick of his debt to the store. He paid with a ten dollar bill, said "Keep the change," and walked out with the plastic bag without looking back.

Once outside, Zick took a deep breath and exhaled. As he began walking back home, he thought:

_I hope I never have to do _that _again…_


	18. A Double Agent's Worst Nightmare

**Phase Three: Zick besides Two**

**Chapter Eighteen: A Double Agent's Worst Nightmare**

18181818

Zick could not wait to arrive back at his weekday retreat. As much as he loved Teddy and his father, the weekend's events made him want to avoid both. He packed his duffel bag with his dirty clothing and pretended to also ignore the condom box on his bed.

Zick winced when it was the final unpacked item in his view. _I really don't want to bring you with me, you know that?_

He lifted the mattress and shoved the box as far as he could under it. He then jumped onto the bed and bounced up and down. The bed springs squeaked and the duffel bag fell inch by inch to the ground before he stopped. Zick stood as he stared at the bag, and then his roughed-up bed.

_At least there's a very good chance that Dad will not look for you under here, _he thought as his feet reunited with the floor. He straightened the bed sheets and pillow, picked up the duffel bag and swung it over his shoulder, and exited the bedroom.

18181818

"Guys, I'm back!" He closed the front door and waited for a response. All he heard was a sink on full blast.

"Guys?"

The sink ceased operation. "Zick? When did you get here?"

"Just now, Mom."

Greta entered the foyer, rubbing her hands dry with a worn-out kitchen rag. Her hair was secured by a ponytail holder and her long sleeves were pushed above her elbows. She smelled like lemon scented surface cleaner.

"Welcome back, Zick."

"Hi, Mom… I thought you cleaned the floors on Tuesday."

"A couple of the monsters are passing a virus among each other. I thought Ben was lying when he said that Bombo vomited all over the entire living room, but..."

Zick turned to the living room. Yellow police tape reading "DO NOT CROSS" and a orange and black biohazard sign blockaded the entrance. He heard some groans and a stench from the room. He pinched his nose.

"I know, it's horrible. Bombo also vomited in the kitchen earlier this morning and I literally finished cleaning up only five minutes ago.

"Oh, and Elena wanted you to come over to her house whenever you arrived. How about you stay over there for awhile as I, uh, try to air out the place?"

Zick sighed; he _did _need to escape from that horrid smell. He handed his mother the duffel bag and turned around.

"Okay. See you later, then."

Zick contemplated avoiding the Potatoes. Like Teddy's and his father's apartments, the house produced bitter memories. If he was older, he probably would have left for another Bigburg suburb and stayed there.

He faced towards his next door neighbor's house's direction, and then towards the other's direction. Both coasts were clear. He took a couple of steps away from Elena's and his homes, and then stopped.

_No—I shouldn't. I'm tired of lying to everyone. What if Missus Potato calls my mom or vice versa? I would definitely be sunk. I should just go and bear it._

Off he went to Elena's door. He rang the doorbell and waited. Even outside he could faintly hear the blaring television and lively preschoolers outside.

Mister Potato opened the door. Instead of his usual brown suit he wore a short-sleeved white shirt and denim shorts. He was unshaved and fatigued.

"Hi, Zick. Are you here to see Elena?"

"Yes, sir. Where is she?"

"She's always in her bedroom, so I'm going to guess she's in there. Just be sure to knock first."

"Okay, I will."

As he climbed the stairs, he paused to see the backs of the twins's heads as they sat on the couch. They cackled as they witnessed a mime's antics. Zick smiled. The twins were lucky—they did not have to worry about things like he had to. They knew little, if nothing, of sex and its consequences, or of strained relationships. Unlike him, their slates lacked imperfections. He began feeling guilty and continued to the second floor hallway.

Zick rapped against Elena's door.

"Who is it?"

"Me."

"Come in and lock the door. _Definitely _lock the door."

He turned the doorknob. Purrcy exited the room as he entered and closed the door.

Elena sat Indian-style on her bed. "Why did you leave while I was asleep?"

Zick stood behind the door. "I had to go to my dad's house. You know I have to go to my dad's on Friday."

"At two in the afternoon?"

"I, uh, forgot to tell you that he, um, wanted to see a movie with me at 3:30. Sorry for that, Elena."

"Really? You know that you can tell me anything, right?"

Zick nodded. _Not really, Elena…_

"So what do you want to do today?" Elena asked.

_I want to go home _now. _I want to be locked in my own room, reading comics or moping around or whatever the hell I want to do! But I shouldn't tell her that._

"I just want to stay here."

"Doing what?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do, Elena?"

Zick still stood behind the door. She motioned "come here" and said "Why don't you sit on my bed with me, for one? You can't be comfortable just standing there!"

"No, I'm fine. My parents always say I should get off my butt more often anyway."

"Please come sit with me. _Now._"

Zick decided to comply. Elena had a temper and her fuse was on its way to be lit. He sat at the foot of the bed and faced her.

"Is something bugging you, Zick?"

"…Yeah…"

"What?"

"Elena… We didn't use protection when we did 'it.' You were so unconcerned about what the heck could happen to you that it really bothered me. Why were you like that?"

"… We did use birth control."

"What? No we didn't!"

"Yeah, we did… kinda. I've been using birth control pills for the last couple of months for my cycle."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do you _really _want to know about my cycle?"

He shook his head.

"I thought so."

"Can we not have sex? I don't think I want to screw again without a condom… 'Just in case.'"

"How about oral?"

_Oh, she's good. _"But I would have to be erect for one thing."

"I can take care of that."

She smiled and embraced him. "Y'know, I'm actually glad you were concerned about doing it unprotected. You must really care for me!"

"Of course—you're my friend." Zick was sure his face was red.

Elena lowered a hand. Slowly she pulled down Zick's zipper. She let go of him and tugged down his pants.

"Can you move a little? I don't think I can get them down all the way with you sitting like that."

_Sigh… I guess that now I'm this far into it…_

"Here, let me do it." Off came his boxers and pants; they found themselves beside the bed.

"Take off your shirt."

"Why?"

"What if I spit your stuff onto your stomach or something?"

Zick felt uncomfortable at the thought. Sighing, he removed his shirt. "Fine… But then I want you to get naked too."

"Okay…"

Elena's clothes soon had a rendezvous with Zick's. Zick stared at her. The last time went by so swiftly he didn't even really register what she looked like unclothed… and he wanted to keep it that way.

_Just picture Teddy naked, Zick. That should do it…_

He attempted to mentally morph his girlfriend into his boyfriend. Sometimes Elena's hair changed to blonde, but that was about it.

"Are we going to do this or not?" an irritated Elena asked.

"Yeah… I've never had oral sex before, so do whatever the hell you want, I guess."

"Spread your legs first of all."

He complied. At the same time, he thought, _But how the heck is she going to get me ere—_

Elena crawled closer to him. Her head hovered above his crotch. Zick felt more and more nervous as her hand was closer to his penis. She began to rub her hand up and down his shaft until he grew larger. Her head then lowered to his tip.

Zick was suddenly trapped in bliss. He smiled, then giggled. Only a name escaped his lips: "Teh-deeeee…"

"…_Teddy?"_

Zick felt like someone slapped him. The spell was broken; his mind was his conscious one again. He looked forward- it was Elena in front of him. Her face was red and her teeth were bared.

"What about Teddy?" she asked. "…Have you been cheating on me with Teddy Thaur, Ezekiel Zick?" Her face showed obvious disgust.

Zick gulped. He shook his head. "No…"

Elena did not sigh in relief. She paid attention, waiting for him to continue. Her face remained the same.

"Elena…" he tilted his head down and sighed. "Elena… I've been cheating on Teddy with _you._"

Elena's expression dropped. Slowly, she moved closer against her headboard. "I'm your mistress… You're using me as a sex toy…" She appeared to fight back tears and shifted her face away from him.

Zick crawled towards her. He reached out a hand. "Elena. Elena! No, it's not like that—"

"GET OUT! Get the hell away from me, Zick!" she unleashed, still not looking at him. She kicked at him. Zick jumped off the bed, stepped back, and then frantically grabbed his clothes as she pelted pillows at him.

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" she repeatedly choked out. She reached to her side table and grabbed a framed photograph. Zick was at the door nude and holding his bundle of clothes when she threw it at him. He ran out; the glass shattered when it hit the side of the door.

Elena began sobbing. Purrcy stepped inside towards the shattered site and yelped. "Oh, baby…" she said, getting off the bed. She picked him up and removed a shard of glass from his paw. With Purrcy still in her arms she peered down at the picture she threw. It was a picture of Zick and her shortly after she moved into the neighborhood. They had recently befriended and were holding each other in a platonic way. Both were smiling, unaware of what would happen four years into the future.

She dropped to the floor with Purrcy and sat Indian-style against her bed. Purrcy rubbed his head against his master's chest and mewed sadly as she dropped her head and silently fell to pieces.

18181818

Zick jumped when he heard the phone ring during that night's dinner. He shook and sweated as his mother answered it.

_Please don't be the Potatoes, please don't be the Potatoes, _please_ don't be the Potatoes…_

"Zick, Teddy wants to talk to you!"

He pushed his chair back with his legs and exchanged the phone with Greta.

"Why did you call me, Teddy?"

"Because I want a fucking explanation _now._"

"About what?"

"Elena just called me five minutes ago and told me everything. It hasn't even been a week yet and you're fucking with someone else? Asshole! Don't you care about me?"

"Teddy, not so loud! My mom's at the table!" he whispered.

"To hell with your mom! I'm pissed off at you! You're damn lucky that I'm not over there right now! Do you think this is a joke?"

"No!"

"Then why did you do this to me?"

"Oh, I don't know—it was only that Elena was there for me when you weren't! You know that even guys need therapy too, sometimes!"

"Therapy doesn't include fucking someone that's not your partner, Zick!"

"I'm sorry! I know it shouldn't have happened! But it's in the past now! Move on!"

"Move on? Move on?! Before I even think of moving on, I want to know if you want to be with me or her. Which one is it, Zick?"

Zick suddenly found it difficult to speak. "Uh, uh, uh—"

Teddy hung up. Zick placed the phone back to its proper place.

"What happened over the phone?"

Zick moved towards the door. "We just fought over something, that's all. I'll deal with him tomorrow."

"Zick—"

"Please don't talk to me!"

He entered the hallway. Frustrated, he punched at the wall.

"God dammit!" he said with tears forming in his eyes.


	19. The Lady, or the Tiger?

**Phase Four: Zick beside Himself (Redux)**

**Chapter Nineteen: The Lady, or the Tiger?**

19191919

"GOD DAMMIT!"

Zick slammed his door and did not bother locking it or turning on the light. He tore off his bed's covers and pillows. Not even the mattress cover was spared. Zick landed belly-down on the bare blue mattress and screeched. He began to tear up.

"I'm so fucked up," he whined before closing his eyes.

Zick soon discovered he arrived in Dreamland. He was on one of a metal swing set's two seats. All he saw regardless of how high he swung was moved green grass and cloudless blue sky.

He heard more squeaking that did not originate from his swing. Looking to his right, he encountered a sight so startling that his feet dragged along his patch of worn out dirt.

_No, no, it couldn't be…_

The other swing's rider stopped and turned to his left. Sixteen-year-old Zick met eyes with a perfect copy of his twelve-year-old self. The older Zick rubbed his eyes and stared again before he mouthed slowly "What the fuck?"

"Are you really that surprised? You know you've dreamed weirder things."

"I know, I know. It's just that I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone right now. You're not going to send me to the cornfield or something, are you?"

"_No_!" the younger Zick said. "But I _do_ want to talk to you."

"Why?"

"I'm disappointed in you. This is what my future self is like? I know I wasn't going to be class president, but come on!"

"I already know that I'm fucked up. You know why—you're my inner child or something!"

"The divorce only contributed a little to that. The rest of it is all your fault."

"How?!"

"You lie—"

"I know that I lie and I know that it's bad! But look at you—you lie too, hypocrite!" His head ached and felt like it was spinning.

"What I was saying was that you've lied and used your friends in such horrible ways that _thinking_ of them makes me sick! That's low. Elena and Teddy are right to hate you right now!"

"What are you, my conscience?!" Zick felt like he was going crazy. "What do you want me to do—kill myself?"

"No! Then you would be even more of a coward! You have to redeem ourselves! That means apologizing and everything else!"

"Isn't that going to be tough?"

The younger Zick growled. He began swinging again. He swung higher and higher. Zick tilted his head up to see him better.

"Hey! Why are you doing that right now? I thought we were talking!"

"If you're going to be like that, then I guess you don't need my help!"

The boy flipped over the top. There was a bang, and only the swing returned. The sun blinded Zick's eyes to the point that he closed them. When he opened them, he was back in his room. He groggily turned on his lamp and glared at the bedding on the floor.

"That was just plain weird," he said as he reached for the nearest pillow.

"Younger me was right—I really do have to redeem myself. I guess I'll do that tomorrow, then." He yawned and resumed sleeping without turning off his lamp.

19191919

Zick sat on the chair as he watched yet another airing of a talk show episode that focused on cheating spouses.

"Baby, why are you doing this to me?" the middle aged woman on the screen cried.

"I don't know, sweetheart," the bald man said as his busty, college aged blonde mistress wrapped an arm around his. "It just happened!"

The thin-haired and gray mustached host butted in. "Now, Jimbo, if you had to choose which woman to walk off this stage with right now, which one would it be?"

The man paused. "Damned if I know. I think I like 'em both 'bout equally."

"Really?" Zick said. "How is _that_ possible?"

The more he watched the show, the more Zick was reminded of how stupid he had acted. After viewing dozens of love triangles on similar programs for several hours, he had enough. He shut the television off and got up. Grabbing a pad of yellow lined paper and a pen, he scribbled a message and attached it to the fridge with a magnet.

_If _that_ doesn't work, Mom can always call me on the cell phone, _he thought as he left the house.

19191919

"Aren't you supposed to be at school right now, kid?" the elderly man wearing a white and red striped paper hat said as he flipped the grill's lonely hamburger patty. The clock on the wall read one o' clock.

"I'm homeschooled. It's my breaktime." Zick said from the other side of the counter.

"It better be. You don't want me to call the cops on you." He placed a top bun on the rest of the sandwich.

"Trust me, you don't have to."

Spatula-fuls of French fries landed in the basket next to the burger. "It's ready; come and get it. Are you sure you don't want a soda?"

Zick sighed. "Fine. You got root beer?"

The sole employee filled a tall paper cup with ice, root beer, and a straw. He handed the customer his entire order. "It's going to be $6.15. You can pay me afterwards."

"Thanks." Zick walked back to his table. He took a bite into his burger as he mused about his situation.

_I know who I'm going to go back to—but how am I going to take care of the other one beforehand? And what am I going to do about winning back—_

"What's the long face for? Is my cooking bad?" The old man still stood behind the counter.

Zick shook his head. "No—I'm just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

He shrugged. "Girls…"

"Girls, huh? How old are you again?"

"Sixteen."

"Okay, good. 'Any younger and I would tell you to quit thinking with what's between your legs. Have you met any nice ones?"

"Yeah… Two."

"What are their names?"

"Elena and… Teddy."

The man raised his eyebrow. "Teddy?"

"Her mom wanted a boy," he replied before grabbing another bite.

"Hmmph. Are you going to ask either one of them out?"

"Yeah…"

"Which one?"

"I'd rather not say." Zick took two bites in a row and finished off his sandwich.

"Really? That's disappointing."

"I gotta go now." The boy shoveled handfuls of fries into his mouth, swallowed, and sipped his soft drink. "It was $6.15, right?"

"Yeah…"

Drink in hand, Zick walked to the counter and paid the man with a five dollar bill, a one dollar bill, and a dime and nickel.

"Thanks; it was good."

"No problem, kid."

Zick left the counter. The bell chimed when the door opened.

19191919

"I'm sorry, I don't know if you can see her, Zick," Missus Potato said awhile later. "Elena has been feeling sick ever since last night."

"But I _have _to see her! This is important!"

"Can you tell me what you have to say so that I can tell her what you said?"

"No, I have to do it myself. It wouldn't be the same if you did it, no offense."

She sighed. "Come in, then. Watch your step—there's toys everywhere."

_Same shit, different day, _he thought as he climbed the stairs towards Elena's room. Like yesterday as well, he knocked on Elena's door.

Elena opened it herself. She immediately shut it again.

"Let me in, Elena! I want to talk to you!"

"After what you did to me? I gave you my virginity and you treated it like garbage!"

"I'm sorry for doing that! I'm sorry for using you like that. Can I please come in and talk to you in there?"

She opened the door. "Fine, but don't you dare even think of touching me."

Elena walked to and sat on her bed. As Zick attempted to sit on the other side of the bed, she snapped: "Scoot closer to the end."

He sighed. His side pressed against the footboard.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"Well, about yesterday."

"Why did you lie to me about not being gay? Why did you have sex with me—to cover it up?"

"No—I was worried about being treated like shit if it came out. It's still a dog eat dog world for gays. I had sex with you because… I don't know why. I guess I just liked the attention or something. I love you Elena—just not in _that _way."

"Zick—" Elena placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know that I was one of the only people in the school that did _not _make fun of you when it came out that your dad was revealed to have a gay affair. Why would I treat you any differently if you came out? I always thought you were a lot more interesting than the other boys in town _because _you were so different! If you had told me, I would have not let my feelings for you to come out—I would have understood."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Oh, um, what was it like screwing with boys and girls? Is there a difference?"

Zick thought about it. "Other than equipment… Not much."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Can we still be together—just as friends?"

"Sure…"

Zick's positioned his arms for a hug, then paused. "Can I—"

"Sure."

The hug was short-lived. Zick quickly pulled back and left towards the door.

"Where are you going, Zick?"

"I gotta do something else before I can go back home. I'll see you later."

19191919

By the time Zick arrived at the apartment complex, it was late in the afternoon.

_I hope I can make this quick, _he thought as he knocked on the Thaurs's door.

Teddy answered the knock. "Oh—_you._"

"Can we go into your room and talk?"

"Why? I already found out about your little bi-curious scheme. Did you have your daily screw with Elena yet?"

"As a matter of fact, no. I broke it off with her just now."

Teddy's eyes widened, as off to show that that was not the answer he had expected.

"You asked me who to choose, and I chose you. I want to be with _you_. I love you—more than a friend love. I feel sick at all of the shit I've done to you. "

"You know that if I take you back, I'm probably going to be more suspicious of what you are doing, right?"

"Yeah. I promise this will never happen again."

"… It better damn not."

"I promise, I promise!"

"…" Teddy placed an arm behind Zick's back. "Okay, but if you ever do this shit to me again, I'll be kissing your ass goodbye.

"See you this Friday."


	20. Epilogue

**Phase Five: Zick besides Teddy (Redux)**

**Chapter Twenty: Epilogue**

20202020

The boys laid on their sides in Zick's weekend bed a week later. Zick could see the other side of his room. Teddy's view was obscured by Zick's back.

"Believe it or not, but I actually missed that."

Teddy grinned. "That's good." He rubbed Zick's back and lower back.

Zick smiled. He wished that this would happen forever. That would be impossible, however, as he would have to eat dinner in an hour, leave his father's apartment the next day, return to school in about a week—

"Teddy?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do when we're back in school?"

"We'll still be together. But I don't want to be 'out' in school."

"Elena and your dad are the only ones that know about 'us,' right?"

"I know for sure Elena knows about both of us," Teddy said. "Did you ever come out to my dad?"

"Not really. I don't want my parents to know yet, either."

"That's fine. I don't want my mom to know yet. We don't have to tell anyone else until we're both ready."

Zick shifted to face Teddy. "Promise?"

"Promise."

THE END

LM Simpson's tidbits: It took me almost a year to write this; I began writing the first draft for the first chapter in August 2008 (I decided to write the first four chapters before publishing it because of my bad track record with sequels). Considering that this is twenty chapters long and over 20,000 words long, this is actually a job done very well for me. Normally, it can take me over a year to write a multi-chaptered story with less than ten chapters and just barely 10,000 words.

Thank you very much for reading from beginning to end!


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